A 20-year old man from Ba Vi district, Ha Tay province, died of the H5N1 strain of influenza type A at the Hanoi-based National Contagious and Tropical Diseases Hospital on June 10.

The case was reported by Deputy Health Minister Trinh Quan Huan to Prime Minister Nguyen Tan Dung and the National Committee for Bird Flu Control on June 2.

The man was diagnosed of catching the virus on June 2 and moved to the Hanoi hospital six days later. He became the first Vietnamese to die of the deadly virus after 17 months the country successfully contained the epidemic.

So far this year, five Vietnamese tested positive for the H5N1 virus, all from northern provinces. Of them two have been discharged from hospital and the remaining two are under treatment at the National Contagious and Tropical Diseases Hospital.