The coastal city of Dalian has ordered all entertainment places to display and sell condoms in an effort to fight against the deadly HIV/AIDS virus.

Although in line with the national drive to stop the spread of the virus from high-risk people to the general public, city authorities have taken it a step further.

Those who fail to provide condoms will face a penalty of between 500 yuan (US$64) and 5,000 yuan.

"Increasing condom use at entertainment places will bring HIV/AIDS infections under control and prevent its further spread," said Tong Wei, HIV/AIDS prevention office chief of Dalian Disease Prevention and Control Center, yesterday.

The city launched its 100 Percent Condom Use Program in the middle of last year.

It makes condoms compulsory for all sex-workers in the city and for those who work at entertainment centers.

Liaoning health department figures show there are 636 reported HIV/AIDS cases, and 34.99 percent contracted the virus through unsafe sex in the province.

In the past year, Dalian has seen a 46.67 percent increase in HIV/AIDS, unprotected sex being the major cause. Local authorities declined to give a figure.

Tong warned that there would be more unprotected sex as people become more open and international.

The floating populations of cities add to the problem.

A slew of measures are in place under the province's condom-use program. These include face-to-face interviews with sex workers, counseling, and distribution of AIDS information and condoms.

The program is a joint effort by the Chinese Ministry of Health and the World Health Organization.

It has been implemented on a trial basis in Hubei Province's Wuhan, Jiangsu Province's Jingjiang, Hainan Province's Danzhou and Hunan Province's Lixian County.

Ministry of Health statistics show that the number of reported HIV/AIDS cases grew to 203,527 nationwide by April this year.

(China Daily June 13, 2007)