China has recorded 27,499 hand-foot-mouth disease (HFMD) cases so far this
year as of yesterday, resulting in 34 deaths, according to a Xinhua tally of
local official figures.
The figure stood at 24,934 on Thursday, Xinhua found.
The rising number reflected the recent order by the Ministry of Health that
made HFMD a class C epidemic, the incidence of which must be reported.
The southwestern Sichuan Province reported 642 HFMD cases as ofFriday. The
southernmost Hainan Province updated the number of infections to 314 and the
central Hubei Province updated its total to 1,424 on Friday. The eastern Anhui
Province added 705 new cases on Friday.
Many viruses can cause HFMD, but so far, EV71 (enterovirus 71) has been
blamed for most of the 34 deaths in the epidemic.
Of the fatalities, 24 were in Anhui and four were in Guangdong. There were
two each in Hainan and Guangxi and one each in Zhejiangand Hunan.
