Hong Kong has confirmed a case of human bird flu. The 59-year-old female patient is now receiving treatment in an isolation ward but is in serious condition. Local authorities say her condition has slightly improved.

The recovery will take a long time because the patient's respiratory tract has been infected and there are symptoms of pneumonia. It wasn't clear where the patient contracted the disease as she had traveled to Shanghai, Hangzhou and Nanjing in the Chinese mainland in recent weeks.