Two more human H7N9 cases reported in China's Guangdong

The number of H7N9 human cases in south China's Guangdong Province has reached 45 this year with two more cases reported on Thursday.

The provincial health authorities said a 61-year-old man died in Guangzhou city and a 60-year-old man in Shantou city is in a critical conditon.

Guangdong is in the high-incidence period for bird flu, which occurs in winter and spring.

Thousands of chickens have been culled in Guangdong and Hong Kong this year. Several cities in Guangdong have taken measures to restrict the live poultry trade.

In addition to Guangdong, Shanghai, Fujian, Jiangxi, Guizhou and Zhejiang have all reported human cases of H7N9 this winter.

H7N9 is a bird flu strain first reported to have infected humans in March 2013.