TWO more Chinese children have died of hand-foot-mouth disease (HFMD), taking the national death toll to 34 - even as the Ministry of Health announced a decline in HFMD cases in the worst-affected Fuyang City.

Health authorities in East China’s Anhui Province on Friday confirmed the two children had died of HFMD triggered by the potentially lethal enterovirus 71 (EV71).

The deaths occurred in Bozhou, northwestern Anhui, and in Hefei, the provincial capital, said Gao Kaiyan, chief of the Anhui Provincial Health Department.

The ministry said on its Web site that the majority of the serious cases had recovered, with no fatalities for seven consecutive days in Fuyang, which had reported the initial outbreak and 22 deaths.

As of Thursday, HFMD had sickened 24,934 children on the Chinese mainland, of whom 34 had died. The deaths were reported in six provinces and regions: Anhui, Guangdong, Guangxi, Hainan, Hunan and Zhejiang.

The total number of HFMD in Macao rose to 99, local health authorities announced Friday.

Hong Kong health authorities confirmed Friday the total number of EV-71 cases in Hong Kong this year was 14.

Work has started on the development of a vaccine to combat the lethal EV71, said Li Dexin, head of Chinese Center for Disease Control and Prevention’s Institute of Viral Disease Control, who added: “Technically speaking, there is no problem for developing a vaccine and I believe it won’t take long.”

(Xinhua)