China has recorded 27,499 hand-foot-mouth disease (HFMD) cases so far this year as of Friday, resulting in 34 deaths, according to a Xinhua tally of local official figures.

The figure stood at 24,934 on Thursday, Xinhua found.

The rising number reflected the recent order by the Ministry of Health that made HFMD a class C epidemic, the incidence of which must be reported.

The southwestern Sichuan Province reported 642 HFMD cases as of Friday. The southernmost Hainan Province updated the number of infections to 314 and the central Hubei Province updated its total to 1,424 on Friday. The eastern Anhui Province added 705 new cases on Friday.

Many viruses can cause HFMD, but so far, EV71 (enterovirus 71) has been blamed for most of the 34 deaths in the epidemic.

Of the fatalities, 24 were in Anhui and four were in Guangdong. There were two each in Hainan and Guangxi and one each in Zhejiang and Hunan.

(Xinhua News Agency May 10, 2008)