The health ministry of Guangdong has announced six new cases of avian flu in the province, raising the total to nine cases reported so far in 2015.

On January 12, the Health and Family Planning Commission of Guangdong announced there were two new confirmed cases for the H7N9 virus, a 42 year-old Shenzhen man and a 52 year-old Dongguan woman.

On January 13, the health agency announced another two confirmed cases of H7N9 infection in Shenzhen, a 57 year-old woman named Fang, currently in critical condition, and a 41 year-old man named Zhuang in stable condition.

Then on January 14, two more confirmed cases of avian flu were announced. Both from Dongguan, they are a 52 year-old woman named Zhang, and a 37 year-old man named Xu.

These six cases join the three cases announced at the beginning of the year that include a 56 year-old man from Zhaoqing, a 36 year-old Dongguan man, and a 6 year-old Shenzhen girl.

With authorities closing live poultry markets and stopping shipments of poultry found to be infected with the H7N9 virus, governments may still have to do more to placate an anxious public. Today, Taiwanese officials released a statement refuting a rumor that chicken infected with the H7N9 virus was being sold in local markets.

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Photo: People’s Daily Online