The enterovirus 71, or EV71, which can cause hand, foot and mouth disease (HFMD), began spreading in Anhui province's Fuyang city last month, Xinhua news agency said, but was reported publicly only on April 15.

By yesterday, the virus had killed 20 children, most of them under the age of two. Another 1,520 children have been infected.

All kindergartens in the city were closed yesterday, as the authorities scrambled to contain the virus nearly two months after the first signs of an outbreak emerged.

Singapore is also facing a similar outbreak, but there have been no deaths so far. Many childcare centres and preschools nationwide have been ordered to close.

As of yesterday, 412 children in China were still in hospital for further observation and 26 were seriously ill, health officials said.

However, Xinhua quoted infectious disease specialist Li Xingwang as saying that there was no need to panic.

'An overwhelming majority of the patients can be cured,' he said. 'Most of the children could recover after a week's treatment.'

The Beijing News reported that the virus had spread to neighbouring Henan province, where at least one county was hit.

Other reports raised cover-up allegations. The China Youth Daily compared the current outbreak to the Sars crisis in 2003. 'Sars has already taught us the lesson that local officials who neglected their duties and gave false reports...were punished,' it said.

The newspaper accused officials of initially refusing to acknowledge rumours of an outbreak in Anhui.

'When the terrifying virus had already infected more than 10 unrelated children, the local government denied the rumour,' it said.

An Anhui official denied there was any cover-up, saying the incident had been reported to higher authorities.

REUTERS, XINHUA, AGENCE FRANCE-PRESSE