A TOTAL of 19 children have died and more than 700 others fallen ill in an outbreak of a lethal intestinal virus in Fuyang City, East China's Anhui Province, since March.

"Experts from the Ministry of Health, Anhui Province and Fuyang City confirmed the virus is enterovirus 71 or EV 71 based on epidemiological surveys, clinical diagnosis and lab work," said the city's health department.

Hospitals in Fuyang, in northwestern Anhui, started to take in children with fever, along with blisters, ulcers in the mouth, or rashes on the hands and feet, in early March. Some of the victims were diagnosed with brain, heart and lung damage.

All of the victims were aged below six, of whom the majority being children under the age of two.

By Saturday, there were 789 cases of infections, of which 19 were fatal. A total of 204 children remain in hospital for further medical observation, of whom four are said to be in critical conditions.

The Ministry of Health sent a team in mid-April, and they have been working with health workers to find the cause of the infection.

(Xinhua)