No China Sars deaths for first day in six weeks

China reported yesterday its first 24 hours without a death from Sars in nearly six weeks and only two new infections, capping a week of cases in single-digit figures.

Two people - one in Beijing and another in the neighbouring province of Hebei - had contracted Sars in the 24 hours to 10 a.m. (0200 GMT) yesterday, the Health Ministry said.

No-one had died during the period, leaving the national death toll from the flu-like Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome at 332. Total infections stayed at 5,328 after two previously reported Shanxi province cases were determined not to have been Sars.

It was the first daily report without a single death since April 20, when China ended weeks of covering up the extent of the outbreak in Beijing and sacked the health minister and Beijing mayor. Still, hundreds remain hospitalised.

The new leadership headed by President Hu Jintao declared war on Sars in late April and ordered more honest reporting of the disease - leading to an alarming string of days with 100 new cases or more in Beijing through early May.

But new cases have held to less than 10 for the past week, and while some scepticism remains over the accuracy of the figures, the panic that gripped the city in late April has faded.

Facemasks that were ubiquitous for weeks are now oddities again, even on public buses and crowded areas, and traffic jams have returned to the streets.