- BEIJING (Reuters) - China,
under fire at home and abroad for failing to disclose the extent of its
SARS infections, sharply raised its number of cases on Sunday to 1,807
from 1,512 and revealed scores of new infections in Beijing. The bulk of
the new cases came in the capital, where the number of infections was estimated
at an alarming 339, and the city had another 402 suspected case as of April
18, China's Vice Health Minister Gao Qiang said in a statement.
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- Up until Sunday, officials had reported only 37 infections
in Beijing, despite estimates from Chinese doctors and World Health Organization
experts of a far higher toll.
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- There was no immediate explanation as to why the number
of new cases in Beijing was more than the number of new cases for all of
China.
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- Gao said 79 people had died of Severe Acute Respiratory
Syndrome (SARS) nationwide in China, up from the previously reported 67,
since the virus emerged in the southern province of Guangdong in November.
It leapt to Hong Kong in late February and spread around the world.
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