China to raise Sars death toll

China to raise Sars death toll

The virus has spread to several regions in China

China is likely to increase its figures for the number of Sars cases in Beijing, according to a World Health Organization official.

James Maguire, a member of the WHO team investigating the Sars outbreak in China, told Reuters news agency that the Chinese authorities had agreed to alter the way they define patients with Sars symptoms.

"Their expectation is that the number will be significantly greater than what is officially reported," he said.

China has been repeatedly criticised by the health body for withholding information about the Sars virus, which began in Guangdong province in November and has since spread around the world, killing more than 160 people and infecting 3,000 others.

Earlier this week, the WHO estimated that there were up to 200 cases in the Beijing area, compared with the government's figure of 37.

China's Communist Party leadership stepped into the controversy on Thursday, ordering officials to stop covering up the extent of cases.

Senior officials including President Hu Jintao met to consider ways of combating the disease.

"The meeting explicitly warned against the covering up of Sars cases and demanded the accurate, timely and honest reporting of the Sars situation," the official Xinhua news agency reported.

According to government figures, 65 people have died of Sars so far in China, and by Thursday 1,480 cases of the virus had been recorded.

Further deaths

Many other Asian regions have also been affected by the Sars virus, with Hong Kong being the worst hit outside mainland China.

Four more people were announced to have died of Sars on Friday, bringing the total death toll there to 69 and the number of cases to 1,327.

How Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome has spread around the world

SARS guide

Many people in Hong Kong have accused the authorities of acting too slowly in their efforts to contain the virus.

On Friday, Chief Executive Tung Chee-hwa acknowledged that at the beginning of the outbreak the authorities "were not as active or proactive as we are now".

"But with more experience under our belt, we have become very proactive," he said.

Mr Tung said the fight against the virus was being stepped up still further, and announced a city-wide cleaning operation over the weekend.

Meanwhile, the influential British medical journal the Lancet likened China's response to Sars to its lack of openness about a number of other health issues, including the spread of HIV and a high suicide rate among women.

It argued that as China is to host the 2008 Olympics, it should be more open and learn to be a team player in the international public health arena.

Another publication, the US-based Time magazine, alleged that China removed dozens of Sars patients from hospitals in Beijing ahead of inspection visits by the WHO, in a bid to hide the extent of the epidemic.

The report, quoting several doctors and nurses, said 40 patients were transferred to a hotel on hospital grounds, while 31 others were put into ambulances and driven around Beijing until the inspection was over.

In other developments:

• Pupils returning to 32 boarding schools in the UK from Hong Kong are to be quarantined for 10 days

• Taiwan is to give $72 to every person who reports a probable or suspected case of Sars

• The US changes the way it classifies patients with Sars, causing the number of probable cases there to drop to 35 from 208

• US health authorities say a test to screen people for Sars could be available within 10 days

• Brazil says it will screen crews of ship arriving at its ports from high risk areas