The Beijing city government today announced that the number of new HIV/AIDS cases recorded during the first six months of 2007 -- 563 -- is up 50 percent from the same period in 2006.

Most of the new cases were among young or middle-age people, and new cases among males outnumbered those among females, said Zhao Tao, chief of disease control and prevention with the Beijing Municipal Health Bureau.

From 1985 through June, the city recorded 4,253 HIV/AIDS cases. The 563 new cases announced today include 120 residents of Beijing, 432 migrant Chinese from other cities and 11 people from other countries.

Needle sharing and sex were the principal transmission factors. As part of an anti-drug campaign, Beijing is adopting compulsory urine tests for addicts. Those who test positive will be ordered to undergo treatment at community-based rehabilitation centers and will be assigned to a social worker who will track their progress.

Unsafe sex and migration are driving the spread of HIV from high-risk groups to the general population, said Han Mengjie, an official with the AIDS Control Work Committee of the State Council.

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