Beijing reported 1,025 cases of hand-foot-mouth disease since Friday, a 9.51 percent increase on the same period to Thursday last week, according to the Municipal Health Bureau.

A total of 4,657 people have been infected in the city so far this year, 83 percent of them children under the age of five.

The municipal health authorities said the number of infections would continue to rise, and more work should be done to prevent the illness spreading. It has ordered all medical institutions to closely monitor the disease.

The city had reported 1,092 cases in the year to June 19.

Hand-foot-mouth disease, also known as coxsackievirus infection, is a common childhood illness that mainly affects children under the age of 10. Symptoms include fever, sores in the mouth and a rash with blisters. It often begins with a sore throat.

Moderately contagious, the disease, more common in summer and autumn, can be transmitted through nose and throat discharges. It can sometimes be fatal if complications occur.

In Linyi city, eastern Shandong Province, two boys and a girl, all under the age of two, have died from the disease this year, according to the provincial health department.

China first reported the hand-foot-mouth disease in Shanghai in 1981. An outbreak of the disease in northern Tianjin in 1983 caused more than 7,000 infections.

Last year, China reported a total of 13,637 cases of the disease, including six fatalities, according to the Health Ministry. Except for Tibet, all other provinces or regions on the Chinese mainland had reports of infected cases of the disease.

(Xinhua News Agency July 13, 2007)