By Thursday, a total of 644 pigs had been killed in the endemic of streptococosis swine in southwest China's Sichuan Province, with three new deaths reported, the Ministry of Agriculture announced on Friday.

Thanks to the joint effort made by the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China, the State Council and relevant departments at all levels, the number of pigs killed daily has been decreasing, the ministry said.

The endemic has been controlled effectively, the ministry said.

The endemic broke out in late June, first in Ziyang and Neijiang, and later spread to ten cities, including Jianyang and Chengdu, the provincial capital of Sichuan, the country's No.1 pig production base.

Local departments have taken forceful quarantine measures to avoid further human infection, ordering rural people not to slaughter, sell or eat any pigs killed by the disease. Some compensation has been given to farmers that have buried dead pigs according to the governmental requirement.

A total of 38 people have been killed in the pig-borne endemic as of 12:00 a. m. Wednesday.
 
Four more cases of a pig-borne endemic were reported in southwest China's Sichuan Province as of 12:00 am Friday, but no death was reported, according to the Chinese Ministry of Health.

With 11 patients discharged from hospital on Friday, 134 people are still in hospital for medical treatment and 14 of them are in critical condition, the ministry said.

(Xinhua News Agency August 6, 2005)