Beijing's health authority on Wednesday confirmed the first child death of hand-foot-mouth disease (HFMD) in the capital.

Deng Xiaohong, spokeswoman of the Beijing Health Bureau, said that the child, an unidentified resident of Chaoyang District, had died on the way to a hospital on May 11.

She said that the child had tested positive for enterovirus 71 (EV71), a virus that has caused the majority of HFMD deaths in China.

The spokeswoman also confirmed that another child from north China's Hebei Province had died of HFMD in a Beijing hospital.

"Under the disease counting regulations of the Ministry of Health, the child from Hebei was not counted in Beijing's disease toll," said Deng.

Hebei Province, which neighbors Beijing, had not previously reported any child death from HFMD.

(Xinhua News Agency May 14, 2008)