bodyType

customContents

entityId

entityUuid

articlePageQuery

filter

article

articleBaseAdvertisingInfoArticle

articleListArticle

articleSeoArticle

hooksArticleAcknowledgementGateOverlayArticle

hooksTrackPageViewArticle

hooksContentInterestArticle

articleLinkingDataContent

hooksAmpRedirectArticle

articleSchemaContent

liveArticle

advertZone

sentiment

contentLock

topics

types

sections

paywallTypes

createdDate

publishedDate

urlAlias

moreOnThisArticles

sponsorType

commentCount

authorLocations

authors

corrections

displaySlideShow

multimediaEmbed

printHeadline

seriesContainer

articleSpeeches

socialHeadline

headline

images

flag

firstTopic

glossary

flattenTypeIds

image

relatedLinks

relatedNewsletters

__typename

sponsor

pdfFiles

seriesReverseOrder

series

disableOffPlatformContent

published

updatedDate

summary

subHeadline

body

keywords

readingTime

customTimezone

liveContents

Josephine Ma

The Ministry of Health yesterday acknowledged what had been rumoured for weeks - the number of Sars cases in Beijing is far higher than officially stated.

What shocked many was just how much higher, with confirmed cases being almost 10 times greater than previously announced.

There are now 346 confirmed infections, with a further 402 suspected cases. The previous total of confirmed infections was only 37. There have been 18 deaths.

'In the days to come, more suspected patients are going to be confirmed as Sars patients so the figures we release are going to be higher,' executive Vice-Minister of Health Gao Qiang said.

Mr Gao yesterday described the situation in Beijing as 'very serious'' but would leave it to individuals to conclude whether it was safe to visit the capital.

He blamed the sudden leap in reported Sars cases on loopholes in information collection, red tape and difficulty in diagnosis.

'The Ministry of Health is not well prepared for the sudden health hazards and it has failed to have a timely and unified system to collect information,'' he said.

Mr Gao denied there had been any deliberate attempt to cover up Sars, although he said it was only after he accompanied an inspection team to several Beijing hospitals to collect data that an accurate picture of the situation was obtained.

Mr Gao did not respond to allegations printed in Time magazine that two military hospitals had removed their patients, including some in critical condition, to other hospitals during a tour by WHO experts last week.

In a strongly worded statement, Xinhua last night blamed the lack of transparency on officials protecting their careers.

'Some officials have covered up the epidemic because they weigh their own performance as more important than the life of the people,'' the agency said.

The Xinhua article went on to say that there had been some cover-ups, but it did not say where.

A WHO team will visit Shanghai tomorrow and then go to the western provinces.

Mr Gao  expressed concern that migrant workers in the cities could carry the virus back home. 'There is a floating population of four million in and out of Beijing every day,'' he said.

Mr Gao would not estimate the cost of treating the outbreak, but pledged that the government would 'spend as much as it takes''.

According to the figures released yesterday, Guangdong still has the largest number of confirmed Sars cases, with 1,292, while Shanxi followed Beijing as the third hardest hit area with 108 cases.

Twenty-five cases were found in Inner Mongolia, 12 in Guangxi, six in Hunan, seven in Sichuan, three in Fujian and three in Shanghai.

The virus has also spread to inland provinces with one case found in Henan and five in the western province of Ningxia. Xinhua reported yesterday that three cases have been diagnosed in Zhejiang.



Beijing has 10 times more cases than reported