The Beijing Municipal Health Bureau reported on Monday, August 25 that it had recorded just five cases of overseas visitors suffering from infectious diseases during the Olympic Games that concluded on August 24.

A total 7,776 cases of infectious diseases were recorded in Beijing during the period of the Games, a 36.9 percent drop from the same period of last year. They included 63 cases affecting people involved in the Games, including one overseas visitor who contracted Dengue fever, the first such case in the city this year.

Two cases of food poisoning were reported, 12 less than the same period last year. There were no incidents of drinking water contamination at Olympic venues.

During the 17-day Games, 156 dispensaries and polyclinics set up in Olympic venues treated 20,959 patients. Services provided ranged through internal medicine, orthopedics, physiotherapy and traditional Chinese medicine. In addition, 24 specially-designated hospitals treated 4,855 Olympics-related patients, including 127 inpatients, during the Games.

Twenty medical teams from the municipal disease prevention office, each 300-strong, were deployed in full force across the city during the Games, and 53 laboratories operated around the clock.

Regular replenishment of the city's blood bank guaranteed adequate supplies during the Games. Blood collection at mobile blood centers increased 12 percent in August by comparison with last year.

(China.org.cn by He Shan August 26, 2008)