Amid Covid scare, China reports first human case of H10N3 bird flu

It is still unclear whether this particular strain of bird flu named H10N3 can easily spread across humans

It was in November 2019 that the first case of Covid-19 infection was reported in China. The infectious disease soon spread like wildfire, and finally emerged as a global pandemic. As the world is fighting the Covid pandemic, fresh reports suggest that China has reported the first human case of H10N3 bird flu.

Beijing's National Health Commission confirmed the news

The news has been confirmed by Beijing's National Health Commission (NHC). According to authorities in China, a 41-year-old man in China's eastern province of Jiangsu has been confirmed infected with H10N3, rare bird flu.

This is not the first time that bird flu is getting detected in China, and it occasionally infects people, often those who work in poultries. However, this is for the first time in the world that a person gets infected with H10N3. It is still unclear whether H10N3 can easily spread across humans.

The NHC, on Tuesday, revealed that the man from Jiangsu was admitted to the hospital on April 28, and was diagnosed with H10N3 on May 28. The patient is now stable and getting ready to get discharged. Investigation of his close contacts found that no one else is infected with this strain of bird flu.

Patient's exposure still unknown

The World Health Organization, in a reply given to Reuters News Agency, revealed that the patient's exposure to the H10N3 bird flu is unknown.

"The source of the patient's exposure to the H10N3 virus is not known at this time and no other cases were found in emergency surveillance among the local population. At this time, there is no indication of human-to-human transmission. As long as avian influenza viruses circulate in poultry, sporadic infection of avian influenza in humans is not surprising, which is a vivid reminder that the threat of an influenza pandemic is persistent," said WHO.

Meanwhile, China has imposed anti-coronavirus travel controls on its southern province of Guangdong after the detection of 20 new fresh Covid cases in the region on Sunday.