A girl aged 10 has been confirmed as a bird flu case in southern China.
The Ministry of Health said last night the girl, named Tang, lives in Ziyuan County of Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region.
She has been ill with fever and pneumonia since November 23, according to a ministry press release.
The girl has been tested positive with the H5N1 virus by the China Disease Prevention and Control Center.
She has been under emergency treatment in hospital, according to officials.
Tang has been confirmed to be infected with bird flu in accordance with the standards of the World Health Organization and the Chinese government.
People who have close contacts with her have been brought under medical observation, but no abnormalities have been found among these people.
The regional health department and the ministry have sent expert teams to direct and coordinate disease prevention and control in the area.
Experts are investigating the source of the virus, since no bird flu cases have been reported in the county before.
The ministry has reported the case to the WHO, the country's Hong Kong and Macau special administration regions and Taiwan, and some foreign nations, the press release said.
China has previously reported three human cases of bird flu and one suspected case.
Meanwhile, quarantine has ended in two bird flu-hit areas in east China's Anhui Province and the northwestern Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region.
Local epidemic prevention authorities in Huainan, Anhui Province, said the three-week quarantine in the city's Fanwei village was lifted at midnight on Monday.
Quibaga, a town in Xinjiang, also celebrated the end of a 21-day quarantine on Monday, according to the local government.
(Xinhua)