BEIJING, April 21 (UPI) -- Chinese officials have confirmed five new cases of avian flu, bringing the total number of cases up to 96 with 18 deaths.
Three cases of H7N9 -- bird flu -- were reported in Zhejiang Province, one in Jiangsu Province and one in Shanghai, the National Health and Family Planning Commission said in its daily update.
The five new cases came in the 24-hour period preceding 4 p.m. local time Saturday, and none of them had resulted in deaths, Xinhua reported.
China officially confirmed the occurrence of humans infected with H7N9 late last month. Since then 96 people have been infected resulting in 18 deaths and 78 patients being treated in hospitals. Nine people had been discharged from hospitals as of Saturday.
Shanghai has had a total of 33 cases, including 11 deaths; Jiangsu Province has had 23 cases with three deaths; and Zhejiang Province has had 33 cases with three deaths, Xinhua reported. Anhui Province has reported three cases and one death, Beijing has reported one case and Henan Province has had three cases.
Officials are concerned the disease can pass from person to person, but there have been no signs of this happening, Xinhua reported.
