Doctor Phan Van Nghiem at the municipal Department of Health said the girl was three years old and died of the virus at 2 am in the city-based Hospital for Children No 2.

Her body was sterilised and brought back to her home in the Mekong Delta province of An Giang for burial, said Nghiem, adding that her parents were taking medicine for prevention.

On March 17, the HCM City Pasteur Institute said that the girl was infected with the A/H5N1 virus. Local doctors said they had taken latest treatment measures but failed to save her.