Shenzhen reported this year's first A/H1N1 flu death on February 9, while another patient in serious condition was being treated in Nanshan District, the health authority said on February 10.
An unidentified 55-year-old man died in the Shenzhen No. 6 People's Hospital, formerly known as Nanshan District People's Hospital, the city's Center for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) said.
The man arrived in Shenzhen to visit family on January 11 and showed symptoms of respiratory illness when he arrived and subsequently went to the hospital for treatment on January 21 where he was diagnosed with A/H1N1 flu, also known as swine flu. He died the next day, the CDC said.
Another A/H1N1 patient was in critical condition at the same hospital. The patient, a 49-year-old migrant worker, was on life support, the Nanshan Health Department said last week. According to CDC officials, the incidence of the A/H1N1 virus was higher than in previous years.
Guangdong Province reported 143 cases of A/H1N1 by last week which occurred since the beginning of the year, including several serious cases and one death.
A/H1N1 has become the predominant strain of flu virus in China, but was unlikely to have as great an impact as it did in 2009, reported the Health News on February 10, a newspaper run by the Health Ministry.
China has reported 129 serious cases of A/H1N1 and 20 deaths since the beginning of the year, Ministry of Health officials said last week. More than 120,000 A/H1N1 flu cases were recorded in 2009, 648 of them fatal.
