CHENGDU -- A total of 203 primary school students in southwest China's Sichuan Province have been hospitalized with fevers, vomiting and diarrhea, the local government said Thursday.

The first pupil of the Central Primary School in Yingjie Township, Ziyang City, was admitted to the township hospital in Yingjie at 7 a.m. Wednesday after falling ill, according to the city's publicity authorities.

The hospital had received a total of 203 students exhibiting similar symptoms by 10:30 am Thursday. Fifty of them are being treated in the township hospital, while 153 others have been transferred to three hospitals in Yanjiang District, Ziyang City.

They were initially diagnosed with acute gastroenteritis, according to doctors. All of them are in stable condition.

An investigation into the widespread sickness is ongoing.