The swine flu pandemic is posing a serious threat to the People's Liberation Army, with at least 51 outbreaks of the virus reported at army barracks in recent weeks.
Zhang Yanling , head of the health section of the army's General Logistics Department, said that some of the outbreaks involved several hundred soldiers at a time. Preventing the spread of the virus was proving extremely difficult as the number of cases was on the rise.
The Ministry of National Defence made the rare disclosure of the outbreaks on its website. In accordance with its usual practice, it did not reveal which units or command regions were the worst affected or the total number of cases.
The PLA held a meeting on swine flu prevention and control in Beijing yesterday. The meeting, attended by the deputy director of the General Logistics Department, was warned that the virus had become a 'serious threat' to the army.
Newspaper the People's Liberation Army Daily said on its website that some soldiers were critically ill and others were in a serious condition. It did not say how many of such cases had been reported.
The newspaper said special attention should be given to curbing the spread of the virus to ensure soldiers' safety and the stability of the military.
The PLA is the world's largest standing army, with 2.3 million personnel.