The boy, surnamed Wu, died in the central province of Hunan Tuesday morning, while a two-year-old girl in northern China who was suffering from the virus remained in a critical condition, a health ministry spokeswoman said.

Wu was the third person to die in China from the H5N1 strain of bird flu in just over two weeks, bringing the total number of reported deaths in the world's most populous country since the virus re-emerged in 2003 to 23.

A teenager died from the disease in Beijing on January 5, and a 27-year-old woman passed away Saturday in the eastern province of Shandong.

The deaths come as China prepares to celebrate the Lunar New Year holiday next week, when millions of people will reunite with their families and eat big meals with poultry and other meats.

China's Agriculture Ministry Monday warned there was an increased risk of bird flu epidemics as trade in poultry products increased for the holiday.

Low winter temperatures that were conducive to the spread of the virus were also exacerbating the problem.

The bird flu situation in China was "grim" and more human cases were expected, the official Xinhua news agency quoted Shu Yuelong, a vice-director at the National Centre for Disease Control and Prevention, as saying.

However, China's foreign ministry sought to allay those fears.

Ministry spokeswoman Jiang Yu told reporters that all this month's cases were "individual and sporadic."

China is considered one of the nations most at risk of bird flu epidemics because it has the world's biggest poultry population and many chickens in rural areas are kept close to humans.

Scientists have long feared the virus could mutate to jump easily from human to human, potentially sparking a global pandemic.

Wu fell ill in the southwestern province of Guizhou on January 8 after coming into contact with dead poultry, the health ministry said on Monday.

He was transferred to Huaihua city in Hunan eight days later, where it was confirmed he had the deadly H5N1 strain.

At least 227 people who had come into close contact with Wu and the two-year-old girl who was in critical condition were currently under observation, but none had so far showed signs of being infected, Xinhua said.

Chinese media reported Tuesday that the mother of the girl had died earlier this month from severe pneumonia.

The China News Service reported that the mother developed a slight fever at the end of December after having had contact with live poultry.

The report did not mention if there was a link between her death and her daughter's condition, but highlighted that those who suffer from bird flu often display signs of pneumonia.

The health ministry spokeswoman, who refused to be named, said she was unable to confirm the mother's death from pneumonia.

The Agriculture Ministry said it had sent teams to the provinces where some of this month's victims died or were believed to have been infected, but had not detected any outbreaks among poultry.

This has highlighted the underlying threat of bird flu, as it indicates that the virus is lurking undetected in poultry.

This month's first fatality in Beijing had been handling ducks she had bought in a market, also without the prior warning of an outbreak among fowl.

According to the World Health Organization, about 250 people have died from bird flu worldwide since 2003.

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