A Chinese poultry worker has been confirmed as having contracted the deadly H7N9 bird flu virus, the first case in the southern Guangdong province.
The 51-year-old woman is in a critical condition after she was admitted to hospital on August 3 following signs of a fever, the Guangdong Provincial Health Department said.
"She was a poultry slaughtering worker at a local marketplace," the local health bureau said in a statement on its website.
A total of 134 cases have now been reported on the Chinese mainland, including the Guangdong case.
State news agency Xinhua said that 44 people had died of the disease - which includes a recent fatality following the release of the latest official figures a month ago.
The virus was first reported in late March, with most cases confined to eastern China, and only one reported outside the mainland, in Taiwan.
Scientists reported last week the first likely case of direct person-to-person transmission of the H7N9.
However, they told people to "not panic" as the virus's transmissibility remained "limited and non-sustainable".
Local health authorities on Saturday lifted medical observations on 54 of 96 people who were placed under monitoring after they had close contact with the Guangdong patient, Xinhua said.
