Surge in number of children with A/H1N1

If you go to hospital these days, you may find a queue of parents and children. According to Beijing's Health Bureau, by Saturday, more than 4,000 A/H1N1 cases had been reported in the capital, most of them children.

The Beijing Children's Hospital and the Capital Institute of Pediatrics have been overwhelmed with coughing children and their anxious parents.

But the director of Beijing Health Bureau says parents should stay calm if they find their child has minor fever symptoms, rather than rush to hospital.

Fang Laiying, director of Beijing Health Bureau, said, "We should consider the problem of cross infection when a large number of patients rush to a few major hospitals. So we hope patients go first to community medical centers, rather than scramble to major hospitals. "

Health departments have also come up with different ways of dealing with the surge in patients.

Pediatric emergency treatment will be available around the clock. Doctors are also on duty at weekends.

And night shifts will be doubled to cope with the increased demand.