Katia Deng/ Shanghai Daily news

Shanghai Health Bureau has issued an emergency plan to prevent the outbreak of the bird flu virus in response to the infectious disease outbreaks in neighboring countries.

According to the plan, the city has classified the human bird flu into five degrees. The human bird flu outbreak among local citizens is the most serious stage, while the outbreaks in other provinces or countries fall under the other four categories.

The city's disease control and prevention center has selected 31 medical institutes to monitor patients who have bird-flu-like symptoms, such as fever, flu, unidentified pneumonia and unidentified respiratory illnesses.

The center also urges outpatients to report acute fever cases to prevent it from spreading.

Two medical institutes will receive patients who are suspected or confirmed of having the bird flu in Shanghai, the city's health bureau said.

Shanghai Public Health Center will treat adults and the Children's Hospital of Fudan University will take charge of children's cases, according to the statement.