China cautions officials over Sars figures

Guangzhou is one of the areas worst hit by the deadly virus

China has warned officials across the country that they will be punished if they seek to cover up any information about the spread of the deadly Sars virus.

Beijing hopes that the new rules, which will require any emergency to be reported within hours, will encourage authorities to respond as quickly as possible to fresh cases.

The Chinese Government was itself previously criticised for failing to reveal the true extent of the crisis to its people and the rest of the world for months after it was first reported in November.

Health officials in the capital declared on Tuesday that the disease was now under control in Beijing, but the World Health Organization indicated that this was an overly optimistic assessment.

It is far too early to state that the epidemic is tailing down

WHO spokesman in Beijing

New cases fell below 60 on Tuesday for the fifth day in a row.

However, the admission that at least 10% of cases in the capital are among migrant workers has raised fears that the disease could spread within rural communities.

Over 260 people have died of the disease in China, while 5,086 have been infected.

Taiwan's struggle

The fight against the virus elsewhere in the region has meanwhile continued, with Taiwan ordering the army's biological research unit to co-operate with a special Sars research team in tackling the disease.

Taiwan's top-secret biological warfare centre has been off limits to the media for more than three decades.

SARS WORLDWIDE

Known death tolls:

World: 812

Mainland China: 348

Hong Kong: 298

Taiwan: 84

Singapore: 32

Canada: 38

Source: WHO/local authorities

Global update

The decision was announced after Taiwan reported its biggest ever jump in cases of the disease on Monday.

Sars has killed at least 25 people in Taiwan so far, with 220 people now believed to be infected.

The fact that the army has been ordered to help fight the Sars disease has been hailed as an indication of how seriously the Taiwanese Government is taking the threat.

African alert

Nigeria has announced that it is screening visitors for symptoms after the death of a Taiwanese businessman of suspected Sars at the end of February.

Health officials said that the man, who had travelled in Guangdong province in China prior to his Nigerian trip, died in the city of Kano.

They were monitoring 30 people whom they said had come into close contact with the man, six of whom had developed "flu-like symptoms" but recovered.

With a population of more than 126 million, Nigeria is Africa's most populous country.

Health experts fear that Africa, with poor health care systems and millions already weakened by Aids, would be unable to cope with the Sars epidemic if it spread there.