The incidence of HIV/AIDS among Beijing's drug users is in decline but the city's gay community remains the most at-risk group, a local health official said on Friday.

He Xiong, deputy director of the Beijing center for disease control and prevention (CDC), said that based on figures for the first seven months, 1.5 percent of the city's drug users are HIV positive, compared with 5 percent in 2001.

In comparison, 5 percent of gay men in the capital are HIV positive, while 0.5 percent of unlicensed prostitutes are infected with the virus, He said, without giving figures for 2001.