Kindergartens must report any cases upon detection to local health authorities, to help avert the risk of secondary infections. Kindergartens with outbreaks could be closed temporarily.

Pang Xinghuo, deputy director of the Beijing Center for Diseases Control and Prevention, said several kindergartens in the capital had been temporarily closed after outbreaks were detected.

The capital has reported three deaths, all children under 5, from the infection, she said.

"All of them were diagnosed at the late stage and sent to small private clinics, and their deaths could have been avoided," she said.

According to medical experts, children younger than 3 are at greatest risk of the disease, and the infection usually starts with a light fever followed by blisters and ulcers in the mouth and rashes on the hands and feet.

The virus spreads via the digestive and respiratory systems and through close contact.

There is no vaccine to specifically target the infection, so good hygiene practices should be applied to prevent the disease, Pang said. Adults could get infected but usually show no symptoms.

Questions:

1. How many people died from hand, foot and mouth disease in China this year?

2. Who is most vulnerable?

3. How is the disease spread?

Answers:

1. At least 240.

2. Toddlers.

3. The virus spreads via the digestive and respiratory systems and through close contact..

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