China confirmed two more SARS cases yesterday, doubling the number of infected people linked to a Beijing laboratory believed responsible for the latest small outbreak of the viral disease.
The mother and aunt of an infected nurse were the latest cases, according to China's Ministry of Health. One was listed as critically ill, though it was unclear which. The announcement brought China's number of cases to four confirmed and five suspected.
But even as the numbers rose, the Chinese government and the World Health Organization (WHO) emphasized that the SARS cases appeared to be contained to people linked to Beijing's Institute of Virology, a national laboratory.
An international medical team was set to visit the institute and determine whether procedures there contributed to the reappearance of SARS, China's government said.
It wants to stem both the disease and public panic to prevent a recurrence of events last year, when 349 people in China died of SARS after it roared out of Guangdong Province. About 774 died worldwide, thousands were sickened and the economic repercussions were severe.
Tracking the current cases is especially urgent because one of China's "Big Three" national holidays -- the weeklong May Day, or Labor Day vacation -- begins tomorrow. Millions will be traveling around the country, and any SARS carriers could infect people over a wide area.
One hugely popular vacation spot is the Huangshan mountain resort in Anhui Province, where investigators were probing SARS links Thursday. But WHO said Chinese travelers shouldn't worry as their holiday begins.
"In terms of members of the public, we don't believe there is any reason to cancel or delay any travel plans that they might have had for the upcoming holidays," Dr. Julie Hall, WHO's SARS team leader in Beijing, told reporters yesterday.
During the initial SARS outbreak last year, China's government sharply restricted all travel and essentially canceled the May Day holiday. But yesterday, no surgical masks -- common last year -- were seen on travelers at Beijing's main railway station.
"This time there's nothing to worry about. They already found the source of the infections," said Dong Ming, traveling home to Shandong Province for May Day.
"Everything is safe. Everything is disinfected," said a man bound for a vacation in the southern city of Hangzhou. He gave only his family name, Wang. "We learned last year how to prevent SARS."
Official media said about 1,000 people, including 700 in Beijing, remained in quarantine yesterday.
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