Russia confirms SARS case

RUSSIA confirmed its first case of SARS on the border with China yesterday in a major embarrassment for visiting Chinese President Hu Jintao as he tried to convince the world his country can contain the disease.

Just hours earlier, Hu told students in Moscow that China had taken strict measures to stop the spread of the virus and could maintain rapid economic growth despite warnings that SARS could knock up to two percentage points off GDP growth.

Hu is in Russia on the first leg of a four-nation tour designed to boost his international profile and repair the damage done by an official cover-up of the SARS outbreak, which started in the southern Chinese province of Guangdong.