Sars waning in China, HK

China reported yesterday its lowest batch of Sars cases since coming clean with its numbers and children went back to school in Hong Kong as life returned to normal in the territory, hit hard by the deadly virus.

But Taiwan's healthcare system came under further strain after a Sars-hit hospital said 124 medical staff had quit for fear of catching a virus that has no vaccine and which has put scores of doctors and nurses under quarantine on the island.

China reported just 12 new cases of Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome in the 24 hours to 10 a.m. (0200 GMT) yesterday, the smallest rise since April 16 - four days before officials admitted a Sars cover-up and began reporting more openly.

But Daniel Chin, leader of a World Health Organisation team in the city, told Reuters that health officials had informed the WHO that doctors were under-reporting many cases of suspected sufferers with milder symptoms.

The steep slide in new Sars cases the last two weeks has defused panic in Beijing, helped send millions of people back to work and school. Last month, rioting broke out in several places in the country over the construction of Sars facilities.

A Chinese court has sentenced six people to up to five years in prison for rioting and ransacking a hotel designated to become a quarantine station for Sars suspects.

China still has more than 2,000 suspected Sars cases - more than 1,200 of them in Beijing. The country has been at the epicentre of global outbreaks of a disease that has killed 642 people and infected 7,860 across the world.

A spokeswoman at Taiwan's Chang Gung Memorial Hospital in Kaohsiung, Taiwan's second biggest city, said 124 medical workers quit in the past week, after scores of doctors, nurses and patients were infected with Sars.

"There is a shortage of manpower and we're working overtime," said one Chang Gung nurse who resigned. "Our chief nurse, who is pregnant and can't go home to see her children, cries and works at the same time," she told cable news network ETTV by telephone.

The Taiwan government has come under fire for failing to prevent a slew of Sars outbreaks at six hospitals since late April, causing the island's Sars cases to rocket to 344 - the third-highest in the world after China and Hong Kong.

Health minister Twu Shiing-jer resigned on Friday, saying he took responsibility for a shortage of protective gear.

Although Taiwan reported no new Sars cases yesterday, health officials warned the outbreak was far from contained.

President Chen Shui-bian praised medical workers and called for public support as he tried to boost the morale of embattled health workers.

"Without the defence formed by frontline medical workers, Sars will swallow the whole of Taiwan," said Chen, wearing a face mask in public for the first time, at the opening of Taiwan's first hospital dedicated to the treatment of Sars.

In Hong Kong, the government reported a four-month-old girl was the only fresh case of the virus, and said her condition was stable after contracting the disease from family members.

The infant's infection was disclosed as more than 400,000 children trooped back to class in face masks, following a seven-week school suspension to fight the outbreak.

Hotels and restaurants also reported business was bouncing back, albeit slowly, as Sars relaxed its grip on the territory.

Hong Kong, which has the second-highest number of Sars infections, suspended classes for four-to-eight year olds when the virus hit its peak in the territory at the end of March.

The number of new daily infections has fallen to single digits for 16 straight days, raising hopes the World Health Organisation might soon rescind a travel warning which has devastated Hong Kong's tourism industry.

Sars has also taken a toll on economies elsewhere in the region, causing airlines to curtail flights and emptying out shopping malls, hotels and restaurants.

Singapore said yesterday an expected sharp decline in tourist arrivals of up to 40 percent this year might shave economic growth by 1.1 to 1.6 percentage points in 2003.

Singapore, which has largely been able to contain the spread of Sars within its territory, reported on the weekend the first infection since April 27, narrowly missing the chance to be removed from an official list of Sars-infected countries.

However, the government fears its economy will be hurt by the spread of Sars in China. Hong Kong and China account for about 15 percent of Singapore's exports.