Thirty more people have been hospitalized after heavy rain caused contaminants to seep into the water supply in north China's Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region, local health authorities said Thursday.

By Wednesday 3,719 people had sought medication for gastrointestinal illness and 89 were hospitalized, the health bureau of Chifeng City said.

None of the patients is a severe case and most of them have shown signs of recovery.

Two Beijing medical experts on intestinal diseases arrived in Chifeng Wednesday night to join the local medical staff.

Gao Xihua, vice secretary general of the Chifeng City Committee of the Communist Party of China, said tests had shown an excessively high count of bacteria, including coliforms and salmonella, in samples taken from the supply.

The contaminated system provides tap water for Chifeng's "new city center", a 17-square km area with a population of 58,000

The patients, from eight downtown communities in Chifeng, complained of fever, diarrhea, stomach aches and vomiting after drinking water from taps in their homes Saturday and Sunday.

The local government started offering free medication to all victims on Monday.

(Xinhua News Agency July 30, 2009)