An ongoing investigation by the county court and other officials has disclosed at least five farm workers received contaminated blood from 1999 to 2004. Four others were infected by the original five with the "mysterious" disease at the farm 330 km north of the provincial capital Harbin.
But the state-run China Daily reported that there could be as many as 16 infected by HIV.
A statement from the Ministry of Health on Tuesday confirmed that nine victims "were infected" because five received tainted blood from a supply at Workers' Hospital, located on a construction farm.
"We have admitted 16 AIDS patients from the farm since last September," said a nurse in the infectious disease department of the hospital, affiliated with the Heilongjiang General Bureau of State Farms in Harbin.
A farm official with Bei'an Farm, who identified himself only as Li, said victims include farm workers and peasants around his farm - for which the hospital is their only medical resource.
The statement from the Ministry of Health said some relevant officials have been disciplined within the ruling Communist Party and others are subjects of the criminal investigation, the paper said.