China SARS cases stabilize but WHO urges caution

Beijing (Reuters): China reported fewer than 100 new Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome (SARS) eases on Monday for the third straight day, raising hopes that it might finally be taming the killer virus, but the UN health agency said it was too early to say the worst was over.

China, the country hardest hit by the epidemic, logged 75 fresh cases, among the smallest totals in the three weeks since it started reporting its caseload honestly. The lowest figure so far was the 69 reported on Sunday.

Beijing accounted for 48 of Monday's new patients. Late last week the capital was still reporting 100 to 150 cases a day.

But the World Health Organization (WHO) said it lacked the data needed to determine whether the tide had turned in China, where more than 250 people have died from SARS and 5,000 have been infected, the bulk of the global total of more than 7,000.

"We don't feel that we can make a real conclusion about how the epidemic is evolving," said spokeswoman Mangai Balasegaram.

Officials also declined to let their guard drop after Premier Wen Jiabao said on a trip to the northern province of Shanxi the spread of the flu-like illness had not yet been fully controlled and still threatened China's vast countryside.

Last week, a top Beijing health official said he did not know where about half the city's new SARS patients caught the disease.

China's death toll continued to tick up—12 more, taking the total to 252. Hong Kong reported a further three fatalities, raising the figure there to 218.

Taiwan, which initially escaped the worst of the epidemic, reported six SARS deaths and 23 more SARS cases on Monday, taking the fatalities to 24 and the number of infections to 207.

Officials said nearly 200 people from a Taipei housing block had been found to be violating quarantine orders and ordered to stay at home or face hefty fines.

SARS first surfaced in southern China last November. Air travelers spread the virus worldwide, one taking the disease to Toronto, Canada's largest city, where 23 people have died.

There is no known cure for SARS and 6 percent to 10 percent of patients die from a disease that is passed on mostly by droplets through coughing and sneezing.

The outbreak has caused major damage to the economies of China and its Southeast Asian neighbors, with tourism particularly hard hit.

Monday saw news that China has closed most accessible sections of the Great Wall, its best known tourist attraction, to help block the spread of the deadly virus.