China’s capital, on Wednesday, confirmed the first two-child deaths of hand-foot-mouth disease, bringing the national toll to 42 children, state media reported, citing health officials.

Beijing Health Bureau representative Deng Xiaohong said the two victims were from Chaoyang District and Hebei Province, a neighbor of Beijing, the state-run Xinhua News Agency reports.

The child from Chaoyang died on the way to a hospital on Sunday. The other child died in the capital after being transferred from Hebei Province for medical treatment. They both tested positive for enterovirus 71 (EV71), a virus that has caused the majority of HFMD deaths in China.

“Under the regulations of the Ministry of Health, the child from Hebei should not be included in Beijing’s HFMD death toll,” Deng said, as quoted by the same local source.

There have been reported 3,606 hand-food-mouth infections in Beijing as of Monday with 32 patients still in hospital under treatment. Eight of them are in serious condition.

EV71 is a childhood illness found worldwide that spreads with saliva, feces, fluid secreted from blisters or mucus from the nose and throat. Symptoms typically include fever, skin rashes and sores inside the mouth and on fingers and toes. The illness has no specific treatment, but children usually recover quickly without problems. However, there are cases when the illness can result in a more serious form that can lead to paralysis, brain swelling or death.

As in the case of many other diseases, early detection and early treatment can lead to better healing. In China’s case, early detection can also curb the outbreak.

The HFMD outbreak started weeks ago in the eastern province of Anhui’s Fuyang city, which is the hardest hit region. More than 24,934 cases have been reported in China with the number of new cases in Anhui province starting to decline. Deaths have been reported in Anhui, Guangdong, Hainan, Hunan, Zhejiang, Beijing, Hubei and Guangxi.

The HFMD outbreak prompted Chinese authorities to issue a nationwide alert, closing some kindergartens and sending officials to visit nurseries and primary schools to educate on hygiene and prevention steps. Also, the local authorities were strengthening supervision of food safety and water quality in an effort to stop the disease from spreading.

“Local Communist Party and government officials are on high alert. Health authorities are urgently taking measures to prevent the disease and treat seriously ill children,” the health ministry said in a statement last week.

The outbreak of EV71 comes amid preparations for the Beijing Olympic Games in August, already tarnished by unrest among Tibetans in western China and an international torch relay disrupted by protests. But, WHO China representative Hans Troedsson told a news conference last week that the outbreak is not “a threat to the Olympics or any upcoming events…This is a disease mainly affecting young children,” the Associated Press quoted him.

He also added that the illness usually peaks in June or July, which means there could still be an increase in infections as the weather warms up. The disease thrives in hot climates, and Asia has seen increased occurrences in recent years, including in Singapore, Vietnam and Taiwan.