The capital Beijing reported its first case on Saturday, a seven-year-old girl. Photo: AP

According to China's state news agency Xinhua, 11 new cases of bird flu were reported on Sunday, raising the total number of infections to 60. 24 cases were reported in Shanghai alone. Chinese health professionals and veterinarians have said that the H7N9 strain has a connection with Eurasian migratory birds but that these birds are unlikely to transmit the virus to human. The H7N9 strain may be spreading through intermediate hosts, which are poultry and breeding birds in the East of China. In its early phase, the H7N9 strain is hard to detect.