China confirms four cases, probes woman's death

A Chinese woman has died of suspected SARS, health officials reported yesterday, along with news that two more cases of the virus had been reported around the country, bringing the total number of infections to four.

The dead woman from the eastern province of Anhui, was the mother of a 26-year-old medical student, who is also ill with suspected SARS.

Health have not yet confirmed the woman's cause of death, saying yesterday that she was a "suspected" SARS case.

The recent outbreak of cases, the first since last summer's epidemic, was believed to have stemmed from an infected medical laboratory.

The laboratory at Beijing's Center for Disease Control, where the medical student had worked, was closed yesterday as a security measure.

On Thursday, China announced the first suspected SARS case, a 20-year-old nurse working at a Beijing hospital.

Authorities the Anhui case was not made public because test results were not unequivocal. However, the Hong Kong government was informed of the case, media reports said.

The nurse and the medical student had had contact with one another. The 26-year-old patient was treated for pneumonia during a visit to Beijing at Jiangong hospital, where the nurse works.

The student later returned home to Anhui where her mother had cared for her.

The third suspected case is a 31-year-old postgraduate research student who also worked at the laboratory. In total, about 300 people in Beijing and Anhui are being observed for signs of the virus.

In Beijing, authorities put 171 people who had come in contact with the women under medical observation. Five have developed fevers and have been isolated, health officials said.

China's Health Ministry has ordered local officials around the country to strengthen preventative measures against the illness.

The measures were particularly aimed at preventing infections in hospitals and protecting hospital employees, the official Xinhua news agency said.

All deaths and cases of pneumonia without a clear cause are to be looked into and patients with fevers will be closely observed, the news agency said.

The World Health Organization (WHO) said it believes Chinese officials have the new outbreak of SARS under control, just as it did with four cases in southern China in December and January.

"China has a lot of experience in this, and we are sure they will respond promptly and effectively," WHO spokesman Bob Dietz told Xinhua. "There is no cause to expect that China will not be able to contain this round of SARS."

However, China was accused of covering up an outbreak of the highly contagious disease in 2002.