HANGZHOU, Dec. 31 -- Six people from east China's Zhejiang Province have contracted the H7N9 strain of avian flu this winter, local authorities said in a statement on Wednesday.

According to the statement released by the provincial health and family planning commission, six residents from the cities of Jiaxing, Jinhua and Shaoxing were confirmed to be infected with the H7N9 virus as of Tuesday.

In one case, a 57-year-old patient surnamed Lin had visited a live poultry market in his village before he was confirmed to be infected with the virus. He also raised chickens, pigeons and parrots at home, it said.

The statement revealed that one of the patients has died, but did not give details about the patient's identity.

In order to prevent the spread of bird flu, Zhejiang Province has banned live poultry trading in urban areas since July.

Shanghai Municipality, Fujian Province and Guangdong Province have all reported human cases of H7N9 this winter.