Military

DATE=5/20/2003

TYPE=CORRESPONDENT REPORT

TITLE=CQ ASIA / SARS (L-O)

NUMBER=2-303413

BYLINE=KATHERINE MARIA

DATELINE=HONG KONG

VOICED AT:

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INTRO: As new infections of Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome continue to decline in China, officials say their containment measures are working. But the World Health Organization still has reservations about Beijing's reporting methods. Meanwhile, Taiwan continues to grapple with the world's fastest growing SARS outbreak. V-O-A's Katherine Maria reports on the latest developments in Asia.

TEXT: Chinese officials announced there had been no new transmission of SARS among full-time Beijing students for at least 11 days - and schools will resume classes gradually.

That is a significant target population given that state-run media say that of the city's more than 24 hundred SARS cases, 16 percent are comprised of students and faculty.

Cai Fuchao, a spokesman for the Beijing government, was optimistic that the capital's outbreak of Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome would fade soon.

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He says the number of new cases in Beijing will likely fluctuate between single and double digits in coming weeks.

Reports of new infections continue to make remarkable drops in China. Seventeen new infections were confirmed Tuesday bringing the nationwide tally of infections to 52-hundred-48. Less than a month ago hundreds new infections were reported daily.

But the World Health Organization remains skeptical China's aggregate figures are precise, saying that Beijing could be underreporting milder SARS cases.

Daniel Chin, a W-H-O medical officer based in Beijing, tells V-O-A in some cases SARS patients in China were released early or misdiagnosed as having pneumonia not caused by SARS.

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We think that overall numbers are dropping, but this seems to be a possible gap in terms of the way cases are being reported. And the most important concern that we have, it's not only the numbers, it's really is the epidemic being controlled?

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Liang Wannian, deputy chief of the Beijing Health Administration, rejects the criticism. He says that it might be possible that there are some cases of incorrect test results, but he says it would be impossible for any city to make sure all diagnoses are correct.

Meanwhile, Taiwan is struggling with a growing outbreak of the disease. W-H-O statements are blaming lapses in infection control measures, particularly in emergency rooms, for the rapid increase in cases. But the U-N agency does acknowledge that some of the increases reflect that Taiwan is now properly counting a backlog of cases that only now are being recognized as SARS.

Taiwan's added 39 new cases to its list of almost 400 SARS patients. More than 50 have died.

The outbreak is believed to have originated in China in November. Some 78-hundred people have been infected and at least 640 have died worldwide - most of them in Asia. (SIGNED)

NEB/HK/KM/JO/rae