A senior Chinese disease control official has warned the H7N9 strain of bird flu had peaked again since last December following three recently reported deaths from the disease, the reported on Monday.
More than 200 people across the country had been confirmed as infected with the strain since March last year and three patients had died over the past weekend, according to Feng Zijian, the deputy director of the Chinese Centre for Disease Control and Prevention.
Feng also noted the disease control authority had not ruled out the possibility that the disease had “limited capability of human-to-human transmission” amid concerns stoked by the death of a Shanghai doctor on Saturday and clusters of cases that emerged among family members.
The deputy director told the on Monday night that the disease remained to be “sporadic” but had seen a high occurrence in southeast China.
He dismissed concerns over a more dangerous strain of flu in the recent outbreak and said the virus had not undergone major mutations and remained sensitive to current medication, the newspaper reported.
Two deaths have been reported in Shanghai and one in Guangdong province from January 18 to 19, state media reported on Monday.
