A 65-year-old woman has died of bird flu in Upper Egypt, the second fatality from the virus this year, the health ministry announced in a statement on Wednesday.

The woman died at the Assiut Chest hospital.

The statement also announced that a three-year-old boy from Beheira in the Nile Delta was infected by bird flu but has since recovered. 

The ministry said there have been 12 bird flu cases in Egypt this year. Three cases have recovered, seven others are still being treated and two have died. 

Two people have been infected in Minya, Menoufiya and Cairo. One each in Sharqiya, Qalioubiya, Gharbiya, Aswan, Assiut and Beheira. 

Last year, 11 people died of bird flu nationwide.

Most cases of bird flu in Egypt have been identified in rural areas, where villagers tend to raise poultry in their homes, increasing exposure to live or dead infected birds.

The virus first appeared in Egypt in 2006.