BEIJING: Authorities have sealed off large parts of Yumen city in China’s Gansu province after a 38-year-old man died of bubonic plague last week. They have quarantined 151 people, who came in direct contact with him even as none of them have shown any signs of infection, the official Xinhua news agency reported.

Officials said several districts in the city of 100,000 people have been declared quarantine zones as authorities stepped up vigil to check the plague spread.

A wild rodent had infected the victim, who died on July 16. The local Jiuquan Daily said on Tuesday that authorities had set aside $161,200 for emergency vaccinations.

Beijing's disease control centre said the risk of the disease spreading to the capital was minimal. China's state broadcaster said there were 12 diagnosed plague cases and three deaths in Qinghai in 2009 and one in Sichuan three years later.

Plague is a bacterial disease spread by the fleas of wild rodents such as marmots. The World Health Organization says the disease can be effectively treated, but patients can die 24 hours after the initial infection.