BEIJING -- Beijing has reported fewer new HIV carriers and AIDS patients between January and October, according to health authorities.

A total of 2,874 new HIV/AIDS cases were reported in the first 10 months of this year, down 5.86 percent year on year, bringing the total number to 29,063, the Beijing Center for Diseases Prevention and Control said ahead of World AIDS Day on Dec 1.

Sexual transmission was the main channel of Beijing's AIDS prevalence, accounting for almost 97 percent of the new infections.

Fatalities of AIDS patients receiving an anti-virus treatment fell to 0.05 percent, far lower than the national average level.

Beijing reported China's first HIV case in 1985.

China has 820,756 people living with HIV/AIDS, and 253,031 people had died of AIDS-related diseases as of the end of June, according to a report released at the fifth National Conference on HIV/AIDS in September.