"The crucial factor in limiting the number of H7N9 patients depends on whether the virus can spread among human beings. So far we haven't found any cases showing this kind of virus can spread from person to person," Wu said.
The World Health Organization agreed, saying on Friday that "sustained human-to-human transmission" of the H7N9 virus in China has not been seen.
"We have no sign of any epidemiological linkage between the confirmed cases, and we have no sign of sustained human-to-human transmission," WHO spokesman Gregory Hartl said at a news briefing in Geneva.
A faster procedure for H7N9 virus diagnosis is being used in Shanghai, and two hospitals have been designated to treat patients.
"For early treatment, Tamiflu, an antiviral drug, is still effective in the latest infections," said Lu Hongzhou, a member of the flu disease prevention and control expertise committee under the National Health and Family Planning Commission. Meanwhile, public concern about the H7N9 strain of bird flu is expanding gradually.
Breathing masks and Banlangen, a traditional Chinese herbal medicine that the Jiangsu provincial health bureau suggested could help ward off the virus, are in high demand.
Xue Li, a sales clerk at a Nepstar drugstore in Wuxi, Jiangsu province, said their Banlangen was sold out and all the masks were out of stock by Friday.
Snails that are as fat as geese
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