The rate of new HIV/AIDS infections in China is slowing and is now mainly being transmitted through sex, China's Health Minister Chen Zhu said on Thursday.

"At present, the AIDS epidemic in China is spreading at a slower rate," Chen told a news conference. "Sexual transmission is now the main route for the spread."

The country is estimated to have 50,000 new infections in 2007, down from 70,000 new cases in 2005, according to the minister, citing a joint report by the Ministry of Health, the World Health Organization (WHO) and UNAIDS two days before World AIDS Day on December 1.

Of the new infections, 44.7 percent will come from heterosexual transmission, 12.2 percent from men having sex with men, 42 percent from intravenous drug use, and 1.1 percent from mother-to-infant transmission, the report said.

By the end of October 2007, a total of 223,501 people had been officially reported to have contracted HIV, including 62,838 people with fully-blown AIDS, Chen said.

However, according to an estimate made by the Ministry, the WHO and UNAIDS, China will have as many as 700,000 people living with HIV/AIDS by the end of 2007, including 85,000 AIDS patients.

The difference between the estimated figures and the official figures is partly due to reluctance by individuals to come forward for treatment, the report said.

"China's HIV epidemic remains one of low prevalence overall, but with pockets of high infection among specific sub-populations," said the 38-page report.

Chen admitted that a number of core challenges remain, including the need for better advocacy and education, improved treatment and care, and more focused education and discrimination reduction.

The Chinese leadership was strengthening its commitment to HIV/AIDS prevention and treatment at different levels of the government, he said.

The amount spent in 2007 had risen to 944 million yuan (US$126 million), from 854 million yuan in 2006 (US$114 million), Chen noted.

He said more focus would to be put on traditionally marginalized groups, like the gay community and drug users, though he added condom use by prostitutes had risen from 14.7 percent in 2001 to 41.4 percent last year.

Over the past several years, the Chinese government has promised anonymous testing, free treatment for the poor and a ban on discrimination against people with the virus.