Dogs and cats caused more trouble for residents in Beijing, where up to 3,623 people were either bitten or scratched by the pets during the first six days of Spring Festival.

During the period, the daily incidence of diseases was much higher than last year. Overall in 2006, an average of 2,800 of such cases were reported per week, the Beijing Disease Control Center said.

Experts attributed the rising number of incidents to Beijing's increasing number of pets and frequent visits they made to relatives and friends during the holiday.

(Beijing Times)