GUANGDONG Province yesterday reported its second human infection of H7N9 bird flu this year.

    A 36-year-old man in Dongguan was confirmed to have been infected with the virus yesterday, the provincial health and family planning commission said in a statement.

    According to the statement, the man was in critical condition at a local hospital.

    On Monday, Shenzhen reported a human infection of H7N9 bird flu as a 6-year-old girl contracted the virus. Her case was described as mild, as she did not develop a fever.

    Shenzhen reported its first H7N9 human case of the winter Dec. 30 last year. Both victims are residents of the city’s Longhua New District, which has now closed its live poultry markets. Most bird flu cases in humans come from exposure to infected poultry.

    Authorities in Guangdong and Hong Kong last week culled thousands of chickens after exports to Hong Kong were found to be infected with the virus.

    Hong Kong raised its response level at hospitals from “on alert” to “serious” and implemented extra precautions as of Sunday, suspending the importation of live poultry from the mainland for 21 days. The decision followed a 68-year-old woman being hospitalized Dec. 25 with H7N9, the region’s first case since early 2014. The woman had visited Shenzhen two weeks prior and remains in critical condition.

    Six people in the eastern province of Zhejiang have contracted the H7N9 bird flu strain this winter, one of whom has died, according to Xinhua News Agency.

    Shanghai and the southeastern province of Fujian have also reported cases.

    The H7N9 virus passes between birds, but there is not enough evidence to prove that it passes between humans, according to the WHO.

    The H7N9 outbreak first emerged on the Chinese mainland in February 2013.

    South Korea has culled millions of chickens last year in an attempt to stem the spread of bird flu. Japan ordered 37,000 chickens to be culled in December after the third bird flu outbreak in less than a month happened there.(SD-Agencies)