Chinese authorities announced that they found traces of the new strain of the avian influenza virus in wild pigeons.

China’s agriculture ministry says it found the new H7N9 strain in samples of wild pigeons in China’s Nanjing city in Jiangsu Province.

The ministry said chances are high that the recently detected strain of the virus is the same as that found in pigeon samples collected at a marketplace in Shanghai on April fourth.

This is the first time the new strain of the virus was found in wild birds. By tracking the birds' movement, the ministry hopes to be able to identify the transmission routes of the virus.

A total of 78 people have been infected by the virus in China, and of those 16 have died.