New Delhi, July 29 - Nearly 53,000 children in the country are HIV positive, with Tamil Nadu topping the list with new 2,650 cases, Health Minister Ghulam Nabi Azad told the Lok Sabha Wednesday.

The minister said in 2006, about 2,253 cases were reported, while the following year 24,977 were registered. In November 2008, the figure touched 19,116.

'The cumulative total among children now stands at 52,973 in May 2009,' Azad said.

India has 2.5 million HIV/AIDS cases.

The minister said the major source of the HIV infection in children is vertical transmission from their infected pregnant mothers.

'To arrest this trend, the Prevention of Parent to Child Transmission (PPTCT) programme is being implemented since 2002,' he said.

'In the year 2008, a total of 4.1 million pregnant women were counselled and tested, of whom 19,986 were found positive and 10,179 mother-baby pairs received prophylactic treatment to prevent transmission from infected mother to infant,' he added.

Till May this year, Tamil Nadu reported the maximum new cases among children with 2,651 cases, as compared to 2,446 cases in 2008.