Contagious hand-foot-mouth disease (HFMD) has led to 28 deaths in China by Wednesday morning, according to Xinhua's tally based on confirmed death reports from provincial-level health bureaus.

Two new child deaths were reported by the health bureaus in the central province of Hunan and southwest Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region, respectively, on Wednesday, after health minister Chen Zhu announced the death toll of 26 on Tuesday.

Both Hunan and Guangxi reported the child death of HFMD for the first time.

In Hunan, a 2-year-old girl in Shahe Village of Changde City failed medical treatment at 5:20 a.m. Tuesday. She was tested positive for enterovirus 71 (EV71), the most deadly in the virus family that links to the deaths of HFMD in China.

A 3-year-old boy in Yulin City of Guangxi died with HFMD symptoms on May 3. Sample tests proved him EV71 positive by Tuesday.

The current outbreak of HFMD has led to fatalities mostly in east China's Anhui Province, where 22 children died after having been infected with EV71. Three deaths were in the southern province of Guangdong, and one in east China's Zhejiang Province.

(Xinhua News Agency May 7, 2008)