Hand-foot-mouth disease (HFMD) has claimed nine lives in Beijing this year, with two new deaths reported from June 21 to 27, the municipal health bureau said Thursday.

In the same week, 3,080 HFMD cases were confirmed in Beijing, up 230 percent year-on-year, the bureau said in a press release.

Among the confirmed cases, 51 were in critical condition, it said.

As of June 27, Beijing had reported 25,255 HFMD cases this year, compared with 11,823 cases in the same period of last year, the bureau said.

Of the confirmed cases of this year, 252 were critical, said Zhao Chunhui, the bureau's deputy chief. "Most of them were infected in the recent outbreak starting in early June."

Zhao said medical workers were racing against time to treat the critical cases in order to minimize deaths.

Beijing Children's Hospital was receiving an average of 400 HFMD cases daily, said Zhao Chengsong, director of the hospital's outpatient department.

Most patients were preschoolers under 5 years old. But sporadic cases reported at primary schools often resulted in the children's absence from the final exam or even suspension of classes for all those in close contact with the infected child.

Across China, 537 people had died from the disease this year as of June 22, the most recent data available from Ministry of Health.

The ministry said almost 1 million people in China had been infected with HFMD this year.

(Xinhua News Agency July 1, 2010)