Over 200 children, most of them younger than three years, have been hospitalized with acute intestinal infection in the Magadan Region in the Russian Far East, Rossiya TV channel reported on Sunday.

Doctors believe the children were poisoned after eating imported fruits - bananas, apples and citruses - largely supplied from China, the TV channel reported.

Local health authorities are taking measures to contain the spread of the virus, the TV channel said.

Doctors say the virus has affected whole families in the area, with children hit hardest, the TV channel said.

The infection is likely to subside in spring when navigation will allow domestic food supplies into the subarctic region, the TV channel reported.

MOSCOW, January 31 (RIA Novosti)