Chinese Vice Premier Li Keqiang urged medical workers on Monday to race against time to transfer quake injured to other cities for better treatment.

Li continued his trip in quake-hit areas on Monday, visiting relief workers and injured people in Mianyang and Deyang, two of the worst-hit cities.

The first group of 200 quake injured were evacuated by train Monday morning from Mianyang to Chongqing Municipality for treatment.

About 2,000 injured were planned to be evacuated to hospitals in Chongqing, where 5,000 beds in 10 hospitals had been vacated for them, according to Wang Guoqiang, China's vice health minister.

Wang said the move was to relieve the pressure on medical facilities in the quake zone and give better treatment to the patients.

In Beichuan county, Vice Premier Li asked rescuers to take good care of themselves while searching in the debris for quake survivors.

In a hospital in Deyang city, he also stressed the importance of disinfection and medical surveillance to keep infectious diseases at bay.

(Xinhua News Agency May 20, 2008)