BEIJING - China's agriculture authority said on Wednesday that its tests have found 14 more H7N9-positive poultry samples in east China.

The avian flu virus, so far responsible for the deaths of nine people nationwide, was detected in 11 chicken samples from Jiangsu, two duck samples from Zhejiang and one duck sample from Anhui province, the Ministry of Agriculture said in a statement.

All of the samples were collected from poultry markets in those regions.

After gene sequence analysis, the national avian flu reference laboratory concluded that the strain of the H7N9 virus found on those 14 samples was highly congeneric with that found on a pigeon on April 4.

The ministry has ordered the three provinces to shut down the marketplaces from which the samples were taken and cull all live poultry there. Thorough disinfection is obligatory.