Taiwan's participation as an observer in the World Health Assembly (WHA), the decision-making arm of the World Health Organization (WHO), has become normalized, Taiwan's Health Minister said Monday.

Vendors warned yesterday that the price of poultry might increase in June due to an increase in electricity prices that have resulted from the ban on the slaughter of fowl in traditional markets.

The only H7N9 patient so far in Taiwan was carrying two strains of the same virus, with one being drug resistant and the other not, making it tricky to treat to him, doctors said yesterday.

The death toll from the H7N9 bird flu virus has risen to 27, state media said Thursday after a man died in central China's Hunan Province.

Taiwan is tightening up disease- control measures against the H7N9 bird flu virus in anticipation of a April 29-May 1 national holiday in China, when over 15,000 Chinese group tourists are expected to visit the nation, the Tourism Bureau said yesterday.

The deadly H7N9 bird flu strain claimed a new victim on Monday when a hospital patient died in China, state media reported, bringing the death toll from the recently identified virus to 24.

As part of efforts to prevent an outbreak of H7N9 avian flu, New Taipei City yesterday urged people not to feed birds, and warned that those who do may face fines between NT$1,200 and NT$6,000 for violating the Waste Disposal Act.

Health authorities maintained yesterday that there is no evidence to suggest that the H7N9 avian flu virus has spread between humans, despite an additional family cluster case reported in China a day earlier.

Taiwan issued a Level-2 travel advisory for five Chinese provinces and two metropolitan areas yesterday after confirming a day earlier the first H7N9 bird flu case reported locally but contracted in China.

Six laboratories around Taiwan have been recruited by the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) this week to examine specimens of suspected H7N9 avian flu cases, CDC Director-General Chang Feng-yee said yesterday.