Recovering swine flu patient dies

A SWINE flu patient died yesterday in east China's Zhejiang Province but the cause of her death was not yet known, local health authorities said late yesterday.

The 34-year-old woman was found dead at 7:35am in her ward lavatory at the No.1 People's Hospital of Xiaoshan District in Hangzhou, the provincial capital, according to the Hangzhou municipal health bureau.

The patient was recovering as her temperature had been normal for a week. She coughed occasionally, but other flu symptoms had disappeared. She was admitted to the hospital on June 23.

If she is found to have died from the disease, it would be China's first death from it.

Liang Wannian, vice director of the Health Ministry's emergency office, warned on Monday that China is "very likely" to have its first death from the H1N1 flu in the foreseeable future, as the number of the flu cases rises.

"The possibility of a wide spread of the virus in China in autumn and winter is also becoming more likely," the official said.

The Chinese mainland confirmed 57 new H1N1 cases yesterday, with the total number hitting 867.

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