in the city from January to October, down 11.61 percent year on year, the Beijing Municipal Health Commission said.

Sexual transmission was blamed for 96.99 percent of the new cases in the 10-month period, the commission said.

Beijing currently has 26,013 HIV carriers and AIDS patients.

Since the first case in 1985, the capital city had reported a total of 39,018 HIV/AIDS cases as of the end of October, it added.