New SARS alert in China

China announced a new suspected SARS case today as authorities investigated the most recent outbreak in a bid to discover how it spread and whether lab procedures were to blame.

Despite the announcement of one more suspected case by the Health Ministry, the World Health Organisation said the outbreak “appears to be under control”.

Quarantines continued for people who came in contact with the two newest confirmed SARS cases – in Beijing, the capital, and the southeastern province of Anhui.

About 1,000 people remained in isolation today, WHO said, with 600 in Beijing and more than 300 in Anhui.

Members of a WHO team were arriving in Beijing today, the official newspaper China Daily reported.

WHO said the team of about a dozen specialists came at the government’s request and includes experts on infection control and laboratory biosafety. They will work in both Beijing and Anhui.

“There’s no significant public health threat from SARS in China,” WHO spokesman Bob Dietz said. “The situation appears to be under control.”

But, Dietz said, “China is pretty much on red alert”.

Last year, 349 people in China died from the disease after it spread from the southern province of Guangdong and 774 died around the world.

In a new outbreak in the past week, China has announced two confirmed cases and seven suspected cases, including the one disclosed today.

All were linked to the National Institute of Virology, a Beijing lab where investigators suspect workers caught and spread severe acute respiratory syndrome.