A notice released by the ministry demanded that all provincial health departments report cases of adverse reactions to the clindamycin phosphate glucose injection by 4 p.m. each day. The reports should cover the 24-hour period up to noon on the day of the report, the notice said.

    The notice requires medical institutions at all levels to report "Xinfu"-related cases to provincial drug monitoring centers and provincial health departments as quickly as possible.

    The ministry banned the use of the drug, produced by the Anhui Huayuan Worldbest Biology Pharmacy Co., a subsidiary of Shanghai Worldbest Co. Ltd., on Aug. 3.

    Local health departments have been urged to take emergency control measures, and to supervise the implementation of the ban in every single medical institution.

    "Officials will be held accountable if slack supervision of the recall and control work leads to more adverse reaction cases," says the notice.

    The antibiotic has been blamed for killing six people so far.

    The six deaths were reported from the provinces of Hunan, Sichuan, Hebei, Heilongjiang, Shaanxi and Hubei.

    Severe adverse reactions have occurred after taking the drug, such as chest, kidney or stomach pains, vomiting and anaphylactic shock.

    The Adverse Drug Reaction Monitoring Center of the State Food and Drug Administration (SFDA) had received 81 reports of severe reactions to the antibiotic from 10 provinces by Saturday.

    The SFDA has sent a team of experts to investigate the link between the reactions and the antibiotic injection, the administration said.

    The Anhui Huayuan Worldbest Biology Pharmacy Co., based in Fuyang City of east China's Anhui Province, said it has recalled 760,000 bottles of clindamycin phosphate glucose injection by Sunday morning while more than 480,000 bottles have been sealed.

    The company produced 3.68 million bottles of the injection in the batch since June and sold them to 26 provinces, regions and municipalities. Enditem