A veterinarian sterilizing an enclosure of chickens in a village in Yongchuan, southwest China’s Chongqing municipality.

AFP/Beijing

China’s bird flu outbreak is “devastating” poultry sales, an industry group said yesterday as the death toll from the H7N9 virus rose to nine.

Since China announced over a week ago that H7N9 avian influenza had been found in humans for the first time, the number of people confirmed to have been infected has risen to 28.

The two additional patients who died yesterday were from east China’s Anhui and Jiangsu provinces, and had been already been confirmed with the virus, the Xinhua state news agency reported, citing health authorities.

Chinese authorities say they do not know how the virus is spreading, though it is believed the infection is passing from birds to humans.

The World Health Organisation (WHO) has said there is no evidence H7N9 is passing from person to person—a development that could have the potential to trigger a pandemic.

Authorities have advised the public to avoid live birds but offered reassurances that poultry and eggs that are still on sale are safe to eat if cooked properly.

State media said that poultry sales had plunged in some areas of China, even regions that have so far recorded no human infections.

“It’s really a devastating blow to the market for broilers,” Qiu Baoqin, vice secretary general of China’s National Poultry Industry Association said. “The impact is extremely big.”

Broilers are young chickens sold ready for cooking.

In the northern city of Shijiazhuang, daily chicken sales tumbled more than 50% from a week earlier at the city’s largest agricultural market, the state-backed China News Service reported.

Shanghai, where there have been 13 confirmed cases including five deaths, culled more than 111,000 birds, banned trading in live poultry and shut markets in a bid to curb the outbreak.

Nanjing and Suzhou cities followed suit by banning live poultry sales.

Hangzhou culled poultry after discovering infected quail and will vaccinate more than 60,000 carrier pigeons kept by hobbyists, state media said.

Domestic airlines have yanked chicken from the menu after complaints from passengers, the Shanghai Daily newspaper said.

And fast food giant McDonald’s slashed prices by more than 40% on a chicken item, offering 20 McNuggets for 20 yuan ($3.17), while emphasising in a publicity campaign that its food was safe.

China has been hit by a series of food scandals in recent years, some caused by producers deliberately using sub-standard or illegal ingredients, making the public wary over what they consume.