Hangzhou, the capital of eastern China's Zhejiang province, has suspended the trading of live poultry in order to halt the spread of the H7N9 bird flu virus.

The city banned the trading in its main urban areas on Friday, according to local health and industrial and commercial departments.

Staff from the city's disease prevention and control department will sterilize the closed markets, and live poultry such as chickens, ducks and other birds will be collected, inspected and treated, according to local health authorities.