As of 3pm yesterday, the number of dead pigs hauled from the waters was 10,164 after another 369 carcasses were plucked from the river.

All the carcasses were sent to an incineration center in the city's Fengxian District.

Yesterday's haul was slightly higher after four consecutive days of decline.

The city government's spokesman Xu Wei said the greenery and public sanity bureau has set up a communication channel with related departments in Jiaxing to report daily updates in the two cities.

Xu said the bureau will remove the pig carcasses in the main stream of the Huangpu River first and then move to clear those floating in the tributaries of the river.

It will also carry out a dragnet search to remove dead pigs that might be stuck or hidden in the harbors, shallows and grooves.

Water safety remained the main worry for the locals.

The government has asked residents not to panic, saying that all the tests showed the tap water from the nine water plants in the affected areas met the national standards.