Beijing, January 6:

A 19-year-old woman died of bird flu here yesterday. It is the first reported death from the disease in China in nearly a year.

The woman, Huang Yanqing, died at a hospital in the Chinese capital after falling ill on December 24, the Beijing Health Bureau said in a statement today.

Huang had bought ducks at a market in Beijing’s neighbouring Hebei province, and apparently fell ill because she had cleaned their internal organs.