China's health authorities on alert against H7N9

China's National Health and Family Planning Commission (NHFPC) on Wednesday urged local health departments to strengthen prevention and control work against H7N9 avian flu as more cases were reported recently.

The NHFPC said on its website that it convened a meeting on Wednesday to discuss measures preventing and controlling H7N9. Officials from the health departments of Shanghai, Jiangsu, Zhejiang, Fujian and Guangdong, and experts in disease control attended.

The NHFPC urged local health departments to make coordinated efforts with other departments to implement prevention and control measures, and strengthen epidemic surveillance and risk assessment.

It also called for controlling the epidemic at the source, health education and information publicity work, so as to ensure a safe Spring Festival holiday.

Over 40 human cases of H7N9 have been reported in Shanghai, Jiangsu, Fujian, Zhejiang and Guangdong provinces in 2014, including a 31-year-old doctor who died of the disease on Saturday in Shanghai.

The NHFPC said on Tuesday it has strengthened coordination with the Ministry of Agriculture, the State Administration for Industry and Commerce, and the China Food and Drug Administration to prevent and control H7N9.