The four-member Japanese team made the remarks at a press conference in Beijing Friday before their departure.

From May 11 to 16, the team visited hospitals and medical authorities in Beijing to help provide effective measures for the control of severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS).

Ohara Hiroshi, head of the Japanese expert team and a doctor from the International Medical Center of Japan, said the SARS cases reported in China were decreasing and the infection caused by hospital transmission had also fallen.

That proved the preventative measures taken by the Chinese government were effective, he said.

Ohara said SARS cases in Beijing would see further decrease, with the continued preventative measures and the onset of summer when the virus would find it harder to survive.

He said his team all shared the same impression during the visit that China had done its part to control the disease and both medical workers and the public had increased their awareness of SARS, which contributed to the reduction in cases.

Ohara said the key factors in controlling SARS lay in the prompt reaction, effective cooperation with the international community, accurate information on the disease, and the knowledge of SARS among medical staff.

He suggested the Chinese authorities should institute reactive measures to prevent the spread of SARS to rural areas.

During the stay, Ohara and his team investigated China's SARS information, and held discussions with medical workers from the Sino-Japanese Friendship Hospital, a designated hospital for SARS patients.

The team briefed the medical staff on how to set up an appropriate system for supervising, monitoring and reducing infection in hospitals.

The Sino-Japanese Friendship Hospital has admitted a total of 167 SARS patients, and infections among medical workers appear to have stopped.

After their planned work in Beijing and delivery of a report to the Chinese government, the Japanese experts team left Beijing for Tokyo Friday afternoon.

(Xinhua News Agency May 17, 2003)