Straits Times 29 Apr 08;
BEIJING - A CHINESE province has started a daily reporting system to monitor the spread of a virus that has killed 20 children and spread panic among residents, state media reported yesterday.
The enterovirus 71, or EV71, which can cause hand, foot and mouth disease, began spreading in eastern Anhui province's Fuyang city early last month, but was only publicly reported on April 15.
Singapore also has a similar outbreak, with some child-care centres and pre-schools ordered to shut to stop the spread of the virus.
By yesterday, there were 1,199 cases, a jump of more than 100 from the figures released at the weekend, the Xinhua news agency reported.
Among them were 20 deaths, the majority being children under the age of two. A total of 269 children remain in hospital, seven in critical condition, Xinhua said.
As the situation shows no sign of easing, all hospitals in the province have been ordered to gather reports of new EV71 cases and to send the lists to local disease control centres, said China's enorth.com.cn website.
In an act indicating new attention to the outbreak, Health Minister Chen Zhu visited Fuyang at the weekend. The provincial health department will host workshops to train more medical workers in the prevention and cure of the virus, Xinhua said.
The virus had been found before in China, but 'we believe the situation is still of concern, especially because of the current high reported fatality rate compared with previous years', the World Health Organisation acting China representative Cris Tunon said in a statement.
REUTERS
