HIV/AIDS sufferers must tell partners

A new regional regulation requiring people who test positive for HIV to inform sex partners of their condition within a month is widely considered well-intentioned but unrealistic.

For the first time in China, health authorities began to clearly regulate HIV status disclosure on the part of sufferers, who number 700,000 by official estimates.

The regulation, now still a draft, issued by the Gansu health department on Monday, stipulates that upon getting the HIV confirmation from the clinics, the sufferer must tell his or her partners within a month about the infection, or face a lawsuit.