Taiwan reports more Sars cases

Taiwan has stepped up its measures against Sars

Taiwan reported 50 new Sars infections on Thursday, the biggest increase in six days.

But the rise was less alarming than it first appeared, said Steve Kuo, spokesman for Taiwan's Sars Control Committee, because 40 of the cases had previously been suspected Sars infections which had been upgraded.

The latest figures bring the total number of probable Sars cases on the island to 660, with the number of deaths remaining at 81.

On Wednesday, World Health Organisation experts said the island had "caught up" with the outbreak, and was close to controlling the virus.

Mainland China reported three new Sars cases on Thursday, and a further two Sars deaths.

The virus, which originated last year in China's Guangdong province, has now killed a recorded 323 people on China's mainland, with more than 5,000 people becoming infected.

Hong Kong said three more people had died and two others had become infected with the disease.

Signs of hope

During the past week, the number of Sars cases in Taiwan has been dropping - with an average of only 10 new cases a day - and officials have become increasingly confident that the worst is over.

Taiwan's health minister Chen Chien-jen said on Thursday that he hoped the WHO travel advisory against the island would be lifted by 20 June.

When the outbreak was at its peak, the WHO criticised Taiwan's hospitals for being disorganised and not properly confining Sars patients.

But the government has recently taken a series of steps to prevent the disease, establishing about 100 fever clinics to ease overcrowding, and improving its standards of infection control in hospitals, which were the source of more than 90% of the island's infections.

The WHO has welcomed recent public awareness campaigns, to improve the understanding of the pneumonia-like respiratory disease.

Last week, the authorities also began fining doctors for covering up or delaying the reporting of possible cases, and according to Reuters news agency Taiwanese doctors say they are now scrupulously reporting all patients with Sars-like symptoms.

In other news:

• Authorities in Beijing say they will fine people who evade health checkpoints or illegally enter quarantine areas.

• Australia recorded its biggest-ever monthly trade deficit in April as drought, a stagnant world economy and Sars combined to cut exports, according to official data released on Thursday.

• Hong Kong - also badly affected by Sars - is said to be holding talks with Irish officials to urge them to consider reversing the city's ban from next month's Special Olympics World Summer Games in Dublin.

• Two more people died from Sars in Toronto on Wednesday.