As of August 19, 1,354 children in Wenping town of Wugang City were diagnosed as having excessive lead in their blood, with more than 100mg of lead a litre of blood compared with the normal zero to 100mg, an official with the city government said on August 20.

They made up nearly 70 percent of the total 1,956 children who received government-funded blood tests at local hospitals this week, he said on condition of anonymity.

The children, aged under 14, are from four villages near Wugang Manganese Smelting Plant in Wenping town. However, they need another test by the industrial illness authority in the provincial capital Changsha before the final diagnosis, the official said.

By August 20, 83 cases had been confirmed by the Changsha authority: 17 were diagnosed as “moderate poisoning” with blood lead level between 250 and 499mg, 28 as “slight poisoning” with 200 to 249mg and another 38 with 100 to 199mg.