New human H7N9 case confirmed in central China

CHANGSHA - A new human H7N9 case was reported in central China's Hunan province on Saturday.

A 38-year-old man from the city of Yongzhou is in a stable condition. Those who had close contact with him have tested negative for H7N9, the provincial health department said in a statement.

It is the second infection in Hunan this year.

H7N9 has so far killed 21 people in China this year, and the number of human infections has reached 103.

With bird flu cases increasing on a daily basis, public concern over people-to-people transmission of the disease during Spring Festival is growing, but health experts said inter-human transmission was unlikely.

Live poultry trading has been halted in the southern metropolises of Shenzhen and Hangzhou, as well as Ningbo and Jinhua cities in east China's Zhejiang Province, which have reported the largest number of human H7N9 cases.