WHO focuses on rural China to contain SARS virus

THE World Health Organisation took its SARS probe into rural China, where the health system is a shambles, as reports emerged yesterday of more attacks on quarantine sites in the country by people scared of the disease.

A team of four WHO experts investigated hospitals and an epidemic prevention station in a rural area of Hebei province, 75 miles south of Beijing, the Xinhua news agency said.

Although the government focus was shifting to the countryside where most Chinese live, WHO director general nominee Jong-Wook Lee said after meeting Foreign Minister Li Zhaoxing and health chief Wu Yi that the cities were still the pressing concern.