National and local health authorities have confirmed that tainted bottled water was the source of a recent outbreak of Hepatitis A in Guiyang City that infected at least 330 people, Xinhua news agency reported today.

The "Zhuyuan" brand bottled water was blamed for the outbreak, the report said, quoting five experts from the Chinese Center for Disease Control and Prevention, confirming a preliminary report from the local health authority.

The water was taken off store shelves after the outbreak.

The contagious disease, which hit the capital of southwestern Guizhou Province late last month, has "basically been brought under control," according to Jing Xuxi, chief of the Health Bureau in Guiyang.

Health officials yesterday lifted the emergency health state after the epidemic was contained, the report said.

No human-to-human infections were reported.

As of April 22, 330 people had contracted Hepatitis A while 21 suspected cases had yet to be confirmed, the report said.

Forty-six patients have since been discharged from hospital and nobody is in serious condition, the report said.