Yunnan in southwest China reported 9,723 new cases of HIV/AIDS in the first ten months of 2016, the latest data from the provincial HIV/AIDS prevention authorities showed.

The figure was slightly fewer than that of the same period last year. Among the new cases, 92.6 percent were related to unprotected sex, rising 1.2 percentage points from a year earlier.

Sex, intravenous drug taking, and mother-to-child transmission are the three main modes of HIV/AIDS spread.

Yunnan, which borders the notorious Golden Triangle region, also faces bigger issues of drug usage compared with other regions. Drugs, a former key driver of HIV spread, accounted for 6.3 percent of the new cases from January to October this year.

The data also showed a rising number of foreigners living with HIV/AIDS along the provincial border, accounting for 9.5 percent of the new cases.

Yunnan had 93,437 people living with HIV/AIDS as of October 31 this year. Across the country, the number was 575,000 by the end of October 2015.

(Xinhua News Agency November 28, 2016)