Flu is spreading in southern Guangdong province, threatening the health of local residents, particular children, authorities said on Monday.

The province, which borders the Hong Kong and Macao special administrative regions, has reported 12 outbreaks of flu since the beginning of the year, compared with seven outbreaks during the same period last year, according to health authorities.

He Jianfeng, an expert with the Guangdong provincial center for disease control, said the entire province is now experiencing a high incidence of flu.

"More than 80 percent of cases are type B; only a few are type A," he told local media over the weekend.

Most of the outbreaks of flu have been reported in schools and kindergartens, He said.

He predicted the number of the flu patients will continue to grow in the province in the coming months, reaching a peak in May and June.

"The cities of Guangzhou, Shenzhen, Zhuhai, Foshan, Dongguan and Zhanjiang have been hardest hit," He told the Guangzhou-based Yangcheng Evening News.

Guangdong has been on the warning list for flu, meaning that flu patients have made up more than 5 percent of the province's total number of outpatients, he said.

He urged experts and doctors from Guangdong, Hong Kong, and Macao to expand cooperation in preventing and curing the disease.

Lin Ling, a specialist in respiratory tract diseases at Guangdong Provincial Hospital of Traditional Chinese Medicine, said the hospital had opened a special clinic to focus on treating the growing number of flu patients on Saturday.

The hospital, which includes four campuses and three outpatient clinics, is now receiving more than 3,000 flu patients a day, accounting for about 30 percent of the hospital's outpatients.

"Despite the high incidence of flu, local residents should not panic, but pay more attention to personal hygiene and remain positive," Lin told China Daily.

Flu can actually be prevented and cured, she said.

Other major hospitals in Guangzhou, capital of Guangdong province, have also witnessed an increase in flu patients in the past few weeks.

Zhang Yongbiao, a doctor in the emergency room of Lingnan Hospital under the third affiliated hospital of Sun Yat-sen University, said the number of flu patients who have come to see doctors in the hospital's emergency room has doubled in the past few weeks.

"The emergency room is now receiving about 500 patients, including children, a day," he told the Yangcheng Evening News.

Doctors and nurses had to work overtime to treat the increasing number of patients, he added.

So far, however, the outbreak of flu has had little effect on the lives of local residents, with schools, bars, cinemas, and other entertainment venues operating as usual.

The manager of a bar on Huangshi road in Guangzhou's Yuexiu district said business remained brisk on weekends.

"There is nothing to be afraid of. The city has always experienced a high incidence of flu in spring," added Huang Yufeng, a Guangzhou housewife.