China's State Food and Drug Administration Tuesday approved the clinical use on a trial basis of the drug "Sivelestat Sodium", which shows potential benefits in the treatment of the disease.

It was announced that the first SARS patient at Beijing's Xuanwu Hospital, a designated hospital for SARS patients, was discharged Monday, the first of the 150 SARS patients in the hospital.

The same day, Yang Jing, a student of Beijing Union University and the first SARS student patient in Beijing, was also dischargedfrom hospital.

In Guangdong Province, the research on a vaccine has stepped into the stage of experimental research on animals.

The numbers of daily reported new SARS cases continued to decrease. The Ministry of Health (MOH) said Tuesday the Chinese mainland reported 17 new SARS cases and five deaths between 10:00 a.m. May 19 and 10:00 a.m. May 20.

Statistics from the ministry show that the number of clinicallyconfirmed cases in this period dropped by 84 percent, and suspected cases were down 76 percent, compared with the peak day of 203 confirmed cases on April 28.

From May 15 to 19, the Chinese mainland reported a daily average of 32 clinically confirmed cases and 80 suspected cases.

Rao Keqin, an epidemic analyst with the SARS analysis team under the MOH, said the dramatic decrease indicated the effectiveness of the measures that China had adopted to curb the disease.

Daily life and work is also returning to normal. From May 22, students of primary and middle schools in Beijing would start going back to school and university students who went home would also return, said Zhu Shanlu, deputy team leader of Beijing's joint anti-SARS team.

Beijing, Sichuan and some other provincial areas have taken preventative measures to ensure the college entrance examinations go ahead as scheduled. Special exam conditions are to be set up for students who are in quarantine.

Yi Bin, dean of the infectious diseases section of the 309 hospital with the People's Liberation Army, predicted that daily reported new SARS cases would be zero by the last ten days of Juneif effective measures were maintained.

However, the government and the people were still alert and clear-headed. Liang Wannian, deputy director of the Beijing's health bureau, said fluctuations were possible because there were still many factors of the disease "we do not know about."

The figure for reported new cases was likely to turn double-digit again, Liang said in Beijing Tuesday.

Liang said the government and the people of Beijing should not let down their guard and must continue the measures which had proved effective in fighting the disease.

The Ministry of Civil Affairs has urged local government departments to learn from Liaoning's successful SARS prevention incommunities and rural areas.

At the same time, local governments and citizens have helped seriously affected regions by donating or providing medical assistance for their fight against SARS, showing the solidarity ofthe Chinese people.

(Xinhua News Agency May 21, 2003)