Nearly 1,000 children in a central Chinese province have tested positive for excessive lead in their blood, state media reported Tuesday, the latest of several lead poisoning cases involving thousands of children across the country.

More than 1,300 children have been sickened by lead poisoning in central China, the second such case involving a large number of children this month, state media said Thursday.

Villagers in northern China clashed with police outside a lead smelter blamed in the poisoning of more than 600 children, reports said Monday.

From Church Hill to Richmond’s North Side and now to the city’s South Side, Latoya Avent has crisscrossed Richmond to find a home that doesn’t have a lead paint problem. “We just moved on June 1 because of lead,“ Avent said. Testing last month showed her 3-year-old daughter’s blood lead level was elevated. At 24 micrograms per deciliter of blood, it was more than twice the limit of 10.