HANGZHOU, Jan. 9 -- A new human case of H7N9 bird flu was reported in east China's Zhejiang Province on Thursday, the provincial health and family planning commission said in a statement.

The patient is a 51-year-old woman, surnamed Shen, who is from the city of Tongxiang. She was confirmed to be infected with the virus on Wednesday and is in critical condition at a hospital in the provincial capital of Hangzhou, according to the statement.

This is the second case reported in Zhejiang in 2014. Human cases of H7N9 have been reported in the provinces of Zhejiang, Jiangsu and Guangdong so far this year.