BEIJING, CHINA - Nearly 53,000 children in China have been sickened by milk powder contaminated by an industrial chemical, the government said Monday, dramatically ramping up its previous figures.

A total of 52,857 children had been brought to hospitals after falling ill, an official in the health ministry spokesman's office told AFP.

Most had received outpatient care and had "basically recovered" but 12,892 remained hospitalised, added the official, who declined to be named.

The ministry added that 104 of those babies were in serious condition after consuming dairy products tainted with the industrial chemical melamine.

China had previously given a figure of 6,244 sickened.

Eighty-two percent of the nearly 53,000 affected babies were under the age of two, a health ministry statement said.

Melamine, which is normally used in making plastics, was first found in infant formula in Chinese markets but has since been detected in a wide range of products with dairy ingredients both in China and abroad.

The scandal stems from the practice of adding melamine to watered-down milk to give it the appearance of higher protein levels.

The discovery has led to mass product recalls both in China and in several other countries that had imported the tainted goods.

The Chinese government also has announced tighter quality inspections across the dairy sector.