A 55-year-old man in Shenzhen, South China's Guangdong Province died of the A(H1N1) influenza virus on Wednesday, the Guangdong Health Bureau announced Thursday.

(Photo: globaltimes.cn)

The man was diagnosed with the virus on January 24 and had been receiving treatment in a local hospital in Shenzhen, according to a statement by provincial authorities.

China has reported 129 severe cases of A(H1N1) since the end of 2010 -- after 18 consecutive weeks without any report of severe cases since August 2010. Twenty deaths caused by A(H1N1) were reported as of Tuesday since January 1, according to the Xinhua News Agency.

"A(H1N1) flu accounts for 60 percent of the influenza currently, and the figure will continue to rise," said He Jianfeng, director of the Institute of Epidemiology with Center for Disease Control in Guangdong. Old people and children are high-risk groups affected by A(H1N1) flu.

He said that Guangdong had not entered the peak influenza season and vaccination against A(H1N1) had been effective.

The A(H1N1) flu outbreak peaked in terms of severity in 2009. The Chinese mainland reported its first case in May of that year. More than 120,000 A(H1N1) flu cases were recorded in 2009, with 648 of them resulting in death. (Source: Global Times)

VietNamNet/Xinhuanet