It is the first time in Chinese history that such a measure has been taken to protect suffering industries.

The reduction is effective from May 1 to September 30 and involves more than a dozen categories of taxes and fees levied by both the central and local governments, the Ministry of Finance said yesterday.

The beneficiaries include restaurants, hotels, trading markets, tourism, entertainment, civil aviation, road transportation, water transportation, taxi and bus industries.

The central government also announced yesterday that it will allocate an additional 812.6 million yuan (US$98.3 million) to improve the infrastructure and capacity of local medical institutes in a bid to prevent SARS from spreading to rural areas.

This fund is on top of 1.55 billion yuan (US$187 million) that the government has already channelled to the construction of nationwide disease prevention and control network.

The fund will mainly be used for restructuring hospitals designated for SARS treatment as well as fever clinics and isolation chambers at county-level medical institutes in rural areas. It will purchase desperately needed medical equipment and vehicles.

The fund will also be used to build disposal facilities for hazardous waste and medical sewage and to purchase specialized transport vehicles.

According to the Ministry of Health, in the 24 hours to 10 am yesterday, the Chinese mainland reported 69 new SARS cases, five deaths and 145 suspected cases.

A total of 4,948 clinically diagnosed SARS cases have been found in 25 provinces and regions of the Chinese mainland where 240 people have been killed by the deadly disease.

There were 2,559 suspected cases on the Chinese mainland by yesterday morning with 3,056 patients still being treated in hospital.

Dalian, a coastal city of northeastern Liaoning Province, has announced its first two suspected SARS cases.

Beijing saw 42 new SARS cases, four deaths, and 51 people are suspected of having contracted the virus in the 24 hours to 10 am yesterday. Confirmed and suspected SARS cases have reached 2,265 and 1,411 respectively in the capital.

Premier Wen Jiabao said China still faces an arduous task, especially in rural areas, as the SARS situation remains very serious.

The premier made the remarks during an inspection tour of North China's Shanxi Province where 416 SARS cases have been reported and 18 SARS patients have died.

Wen told local officials that preventing SARS from spreading to the rural areas is the urgent priority of governments at all levels. Free treatment must be provided to SARS patients in rural areas, he said.

Wen said governments at various levels should know that any carelessness in their work could lead to a great loss in SARS prevention across the country. So they should make continuous efforts in combating the disease.

A special gathering was held at the China Millennium Monument yesterday by the Beijing municipal committee of the Communist Party of China (CPC) and the municipal government to express the city's appreciation to overseas and Chinese people for their selfless support to the city's fight against SARS.

Beijing has entered a vital period and the outside support and joint efforts of its 13 million residents has made it confident of ultimately winning the battle against the disease, said Liu Qi, Party secretary of Beijing at the gathering.

The Ministry of Public Security issued an emergency notice yesterday asking its branches at various levels to make it particularly convenient for Taiwaneses who wish to prolong their stay on the mainland.

In another development, the Red Cross Society of China and its provincial branches have received 62.33 million yuan (US$7.5 million) in donations from at home and overseas as of last Friday.

And a joint task force of the World Health Organization (WHO) and China's Ministry of Health arrived yesterday afternoon in Nanning, capital of the Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region.

(China Daily May 12, 2003)