Two people have died of pneumonic plague in a remote part of western China, state media said on Monday, and the town where the outbreak has centred has been closed off to prevent the infection spreading, Reuters reported.
Another 10 people have contracted the disease in the ethnically Tibetan region of the sparsly populated province of Qinghai, Xinhua said.
The town of Ziketan and the surrounding region has been closed off, the Health Ministry added in a statement. Ziketan has a population of some 10,000.
China experiences periodic outbreaks of plague, which is typically spread by rodents and fleas.
Pneumonic plague is airborne and can spread easily between people.
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