A total of 241 probable SARS (severe acute respiratory syndrome) cases on the Chinese mainland are farmers, according to a handout at the Health Ministry's press conference in Beijing Friday.

The handout says that stringent surveillance measures were put in place to monitor farmers and students who were returning to their hometowns from cities so as to cut off transmission and so far there has not been large-scale spread in rural areas.

As of May 29, China reported 5,325 probable SARS cases, among which 5,153, or 96.8 percent were from Guangdong, Beijing, Shanxi, Inner Mongolia, Hebei and Tianjin, the handout says.

(Xinhua News Agency May 30, 2003)