Infectious diseases claimed 571 lives in China in January out of nearly 370,000 recorded cases, the Ministry of Health said on Friday.

Last month, more than 300,000 cases of A- and B-Class infectious diseases occurred and claimed 567 lives. Of the 68,008 cases of C-Class infectious diseases recorded, there were four fatalities.

In January, the top five infectious diseases, accounting for 87.14 percent of the total of A- and B-Class diseases, were tuberculosis, hepatitis B, syphilis, measles and gonorrhea.

The top five killers were tuberculosis, rabies, AIDS, hepatitis B, and measles, according to the ministry. They were blamed for 90 percent of the total fatalities of A- and B-Class diseases

Infectious diseases in China are classified into three categories by the country's Law on the Prevention and Treatment of Infectious Diseases.

A-Class illnesses include only two diseases, namely plague and cholera; B-Class infectious diseases include 25 ailments, such as viral hepatitis, and C-Class infectious diseases include 10 sicknesses such as influenza.