China confirms two new Sars cases

China announced new Sars cases today, raising the total this week to two confirmed and two suspected patients.

The official Xinhua News Agency said that Beijing and the central province of Anhui each had one confirmed case and one suspected case of the disease.

No other details were given.

The cases were the first reported in those areas since China’s initial outbreak of the disease subsided last summer.

Health officials have isolated at least five other people who reported suffering fevers – a key symptom – and were monitoring scores more.

Sars, or severe acute respiratory syndrome, triggered a global health crisis last year that killed 774 people – 349 of them in mainland China. More than 8,000 were sickened around the world.