Urumqi, the capital city of northwest China's Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region, recorded
2,051new HIV cases last year, or six new cases a day, said the
local health authorities on Tuesday,
The deadly disease is mainly transmitted through illegal drug
users sharing contaminated needles, said a staff member with the
city's disease control office, which registered the steepest annual
rise in HIV infections since the first case was found in 1995.
Along with promoting the use of condoms in all hotels and
entertainment venues, the city also plans to set up more methadone
treatment clinics and consulting offices in public hospitals this
year to curb the spread of the virus.
Xinjiang has the fourth largest number HIV/AIDS-infected people
on the Chinese mainland. Most of the region's infections are found
in Urumqi.
According to statistics from China's Ministry of Health, the
number of officially reported HIV/AIDS cases grew to 183,733
nationwide at the end of October last year, up nearly 30 percent
than the previous year. The ministry also said that at the end of
last October, 12,464 people had died in China of HIV-related
illnesses.
(Xinhua News Agency March 14, 2007)