Premier Wen Jiabao urged the teams to investigate and report the latest situation of SARS. The teams will inspect areas such as the capital city Beijing, South China's Guangdong Province, Central China's Henan Province, North China's Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region and Shanxi Province and Northwest China's Ningxia Hui Autonomous Region.

Special attention should be paid to rural areas, schools and the offices of government bodies and enterprises, Wen said.

Vice-Premier Wu Yi presided over a meeting with all team members yesterday afternoon.

She said the situation remained grave, although marked progress has been made to combat the potentially lethal disease.

The number of SARS cases in Guangdong Province rose to 1317 and the figure in Beijing soared to 482 as of yesterday, with the total number of cases jumping to 2001 all over the country.

In the past three days, 194 new cases were reported in the Chinese mainland, with 36 patients discharged from hospital and 13 dead.

Beijing reported 143 new cases due to the confirmation of many suspected cases. As of yesterday, 25 people died of SARS in the capital and 43 have recovered and been discharged from hospitals.

The figures in North China's Shanxi Province and Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region reached 120 and 30 respectively yesterday. Northwest China's Gansu and Shaanxi provinces, Northeast China's Liaoning and Jilin provinces and East China's Zhejiang Province have all reported their first SARS cases, according to a report issued by the Ministry of Health yesterday.

Xinhua News Agency yesterday published the speech delivered by Premier Wen at a national meeting on April 13 about fighting against SARS.

Wen was quoted as saying that China is facing a great challenge in the fight against SARS. The State Council is treating it as a priority in its work and the country will try its best to control the disease, he said.

China has realized the weakness of its public health system and decided to build a national fast-acting mechanism, Wen said. He said China will improve its co-operation with other regions, countries and international organizations, including the WHO.

A six-member team of WHO experts, comprising five foreign experts and one Chinese expert, arrived in Shanghai yesterday for a four-day visit dealing with SARS prevention and treatment.

The team is expected to confer with local health authorities; inspect hospitals, colleges and local disease control centres at the municipal and district level; and examine measures taken to prevent and control SARS cases.

An official with the WHO said yesterday in Beijing that, although it is difficult for him to judge the real number of SARS victims in China, he "trusts" his Chinese counterparts, referring to the country's health departments.

Jeffrey McFarland told Xinhua: "It is very encouraging to see that all sectors of the health care system -- which means the Ministry of Health and all hospitals, whether local, military or otherwise -- are reporting every day all the probable cases." He stressed that this is the "only way" to comprehend the magnitude of the epidemic.

To prevent SARS from spreading more widely, the Ministry of Communications issued an urgent notice yesterday to tell all transportation authorities to adopt stricter measures to prevent the possible spread of SARS through vehicles.

The ministry said all passenger terminals and vehicles, including buses and ships, should be sterilized and well ventilated every day.

In another development, many preventive and control measures have been taken to help safeguard the health of foreigners working, living or travelling in China, Foreign Minister Li Zhaoxing told foreign diplomats yesterday.

Li was meeting Eleih-Elle Etian, head of the foreign diplomatic mission and Cameroon's ambassador to China, as well as other foreign diplomats.

Brochures on preventing SARS have been sent to embassies, ambassadors have been kept informed of the epidemic's development and the public areas around the embassies in Beijing have been completely disinfected, among other measures.

Etian highly praised the various measures taken by the Chinese Government. He said the other countries are willing to work with China to fight against the difficulties caused by SARS.

In Beijing, a local newspaper reported yesterday that the Communist Party of China Central Committee appointed Wang Qishan as deputy secretary of the Party's Beijing Municipal Committee, who is now a leading candidate for Beijing mayor.

He Guoqiang, head of the Organizational Department of the Party Central Committee, made the announcement at a meeting attended by senior Beijing officials.

Meanwhile, the Gansu provincial health bureau issued an announcement on Sunday after two SARS cases were reported there. The bureau urged anyone who has travelled with either of the two victims to contact the Gansu Disease Control Centre as soon as possible.

This means that those who took flight MU 2112 from Beijing to Lanzhou on April 18 or the No 14 carriage of train T151 from Beijing to Xining on April 17 should contact the centre.

People can call the centre on 0931 363 8717 or 0931 826 3459 extension 253.

(Xinhua News Agency April 21, 2003)