Chinese health authorities said on Saturday that the country's 16 confirmed H7N9 cases were isolated and there has been no sign of human-to-human transmission.

As of 5 p.m. on Friday, 16 people had been confirmed as infected by H7N9 bird flu, and six of them had died, said the National Health and Family Planning Commission in a brief statement posted online.

Six cases, including four deaths, were reported in Shanghai, and three cases, including two deaths, were reported in east China's Zhejiang Province.

Elsewhere, Jiangsu Province reported six cases and Anhui Province one case.

The statement said no epidemiological link between those cases has been identified to date.

All people to have come into close contact with the infected patients have been placed under medical observation, and only one of them has shown symptoms, though bird flu infection has already been ruled out as the cause of this person's illness, it added.

The National Health and Family Planning Commission has dispatched a group of experts to Shanghai and the mentioned three provinces to assist epidemic prevention and control work.

During a meeting on Friday, the agency called for scientific, coordinated, effective and quick responses in the country's epidemic prevention and control.

China will now step up the tracing and management of close contacts, and the control of hospital-acquired infections, as well as tightening epidemic monitoring and epidemiological surveys, according to a separate statement from the meeting.

The statement stressed transparency, urging timely releases of epidemic information to respond to public concerns.