TAIPEI (Taiwan News) — The highly pathogenic H5N1 avian flu has been reported in the Chinese province of Hunan, which lies to the south of Hubei Province, where the novel coronavirus (2019-nCoV) originated.

While the world continues its attempt to contain the Wuhan coronavirus, a recurrence of bird flu has killed more than 4,500 chickens on a Hunan farm, said the Chinese Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Affairs on Saturday (Feb. 1). The Chinese authorities said that they have culled 17,828 poultry as a result of the H5N1 outbreak.

The H5N1 is extremely deadly to birds, but so far no human cases have been reported. Despite its inability to spread between humans, the avian flu can still be transmitted to people in a contaminated environment and has proven to be highly fatal to those who contract it, according to the World Health Organization.

Coming at a sensitive time, the bird flu outbreak follows 305 confirmed coronavirus deaths in China. However, China is not the only country affected by the bird flu this winter, as European countries, including Poland, Hungary, Slovakia, Romania, and the Czech Republic, all identified cases of the H5N8 avian flu in January, reported ETtoday.