China keeps schools shut

China ordered schools in Beijing to stay closed another two weeks and put aside politics to allow a WHO team to visit rival Taiwan as the communist giant took tough measures to contain the spread of the lethal Sars virus.

In Hong Kong, a major health scare ended happily for 10 Indian sailors, who were released from hospital and declared free of the virus after their tanker made an emergency stop in the territory when members of its crew showed symptoms of Sars.

Beijing, which had been reporting well over 100 new cases a day over the past couple of weeks, saw 69 fresh cases and four deaths yesterday, the health ministry said.

Health officials said the Sars outbreak had begun to peak in Beijing.

But authorities, taking no chances after being harshly criticised for covering up the extent of the virus, said yesterday elementary schools, which had been due to reopen on May 8 after a two-week suspension, would remain closed.

While Sars may be coming under control in the capital city of 14 million - now the worst-affected place in the world - concern has grown about its spread to the impoverished countryside, where 70 per cent of China's 1.3 billion people live. But rural hospitals get just 20 per cent of national funding.

On Saturday, the government tripled funds set aside to fight Sarsto six billion yuan ($725 million).

Sars, which has killed nearly 450 people and infected 6,700 worldwide, is caused by a new, rapidly-mutating member of the corona family of viruses.

Air travellers have spread the disease across the world over the last two months. It is mainly passed by droplets through sneezing and coughing.

China's newfound openness has been extended to Taiwan. A WHO team of experts arrived there on Saturday after Beijing had earlier rejected the organisation's offer of help for the island.

"The Chinese government has great concern for the health and well being of the Chinese people, including our Taiwan compatriots, and pays a high level of attention to the Sars outbreak in Taiwan," Xinhua news agency quoted a health ministry spokesman as saying in explanation for allowing the visit.

China considers the self-ruling island to be a renegade province. The United Nations does not recognise Taiwan as an independent country, so permission was needed from Beijing to allow the UN-affiliated WHO to visit.

Taiwan has seen its cumulative cases nearly triple over the past 10 days to 204 - the fourth-highest in the world - with eight deaths. Last week the island imposed a mandatory 14-day quarantine on all travellers coming from China, Hong Kong, Singapore, Macau and Toronto.

Singapore, which has seen 25 deaths from Sars, has enforced some of the strictest curbs in the world to contain Sars and has repeatedly vowed to prosecute anyone who breaks quarantine.

About 3,154 people have been confined and are liable to fines of S$10,000 ($5,649) or six months in jail if they leave their homes. Newspapers reported yesterday that police detained a 50-year old Chinese man who broke his home quarantine order.

Hong Kong authorities released ten crew of a chemical tanker from hospital late yesterday after declaring them free of Sars.

Paramedics had taken the men, all of Indian origin, to hospital after the Malaysian-flagged Bunga Melawis Satu made an emergency stop in Hong Kong because they showed symptoms of Sars. Ten of the 24-member crew had complained of fever, coughs and body aches while at sea after leaving Thailand on April 28, and their captain made an urgent request on Friday to stop off in Hong Kong for medical help.

The Hong Kong government reported five more deaths and eight new infections yesterday, the lowest daily number of new cases since the outbreak began in early March.

Since the outbreak began in Hong Kong in early March, more than 1,600 people have been infected and 184 have died.

India released from quarantine 97 foreigners isolated in the southern city of Secunderabad after two Australians among them were suspected to be suffering from Sars.

Doctors certified that 74 foreigners, mostly Australians at a youth hostel, and 23 more at a guest house nearby, were not suffering from the deadly disease, K. Venu, chief Sars coordinator for the state of Andhra Pradesh, told Reuters.

The group included tourists, Christian missionaries and singers who had been in the city for more than a week.