A 31-year-old Shanghai emergency room doctor has been confirmed to have died from the H7N9 bird flu virus. He worked at the Pudong New Area People’s Hospital and had denied that he had close contact with live poultry. Experts said the public needn’t panic as there was no evidence the virus could spread between humans. But the World Health Organization (WHO) Representative said human-to-human transmission of the H7N9 bird flu virus might occur on a limited scale in China. Shanghai has reported seven cases of H7N9 infection this year. Shanghai’s live poultry markets will shut from the end of this month until April 30 in a bid to prevent more cases. Experts warned that more cases could be reported in the Lunar New Year holiday season due to increases in poultry consumption. Human cases of H7N9 have also been reported in Jiangsu, Fujian and Guangdong, which reported its third H7N9 death. China has reported more than 200 human cases of H7N9 since March last year. Feng Zijian, Deputy Director of the Chinese Center for Disease Control and Prevention, said that there have been no mutations of the virus in terms of drug resistance, viral activity and in transmission capacity since March. Ten human H7N9 bird flu cases were reported in China on January 24, including seven in Zhejiang province, forcing cities in the province to close their live poultry markets. All the newly reported cases are in critical condition. One infection was also reported in Beijing. Zhejiang has seen new human H7N9 cases for 17 consecutive days since January 9. The new cases brought the number of infections in the province to 46 so far this year.