"According to recent virus tests, specimens from a patient named Nguyen Thi Hai Yen were tested positive to H5N1," a local virologist, who declined to be named, said Wednesday.

Yen died of lung failure hours after being admitted to the Hanoi-based Saint Paul Hospital, another local health worker said, adding that she lived in the urban district of Long Bien which houses a big poultry market.

Vietnam has reported 35 human cases of bird flu infection since December 2004, of whom 16 died. To minimize the infection, it has intensified publicity, urging local people not to eat dishes made from raw duck blood, slaughter sick poultry for meal, and contact fowls without protective gears.

On April 1, Vietnam started a month-long campaign to clean up poultry farms nationwide, in a move to stamp out bird flu, which has hit 35 cities and provinces since January. Thirty-three localities have so far detected no new affected spots in their territory for three weeks, meeting the country's criteria to announce an end to the disease.