China 'still Hiding' Many Sars Cases

Beijing may have more than five times as many Sars cases than it has admitted, a World Health Organisation official said yesterday, as scientists confirmed the identity of the virus for the first time.

WHO investigators said they received data on new unrecorded cases when they visited two military hospitals - but that Chinese officials had forbidden the release of details.

WHO representative Alan Schur said that the range of "probable" cases in the capital was "between 100 and 200". Chinese health officials have only acknowledged 37 cases so far in Beijing.

"Indeed, there have been cases of Sars - there is no question about that - that have also not been reported," German WHO virologist Wolfgang Preiser said after visiting the military hospitals.

"The military seems to have its own reporting system which does not link in presently with the municipal one", he explained.

The organisation confirmed yesterday that folowing collaboration between 13 laboratories in 10 countries, scientists had discovered a new pathogen, a member of the corona virus family never before seen in humans, as the cause of severe acute respiratory syndrome (Sars).

"Now we can move away from methods like isolation and quarantines and move aggressively towards modern intervention strategies including specific treatments and eventually vaccination. With the establishment of the causative agent, we are a crucial step closer," said David Heymann, executive director, WHO communicable diseases programmes.

Researchers at the University of Hong Kong say they have completed mapping the Sars genome and that the sequence showed the virus had come from an unidentified animal.

In Singapore, the state-run genome institute of Singapore announced it had almost developed a diagnostic test for Sars and ministers said it would be available for general use "soon".

A home affairs minister, Wong Kan Seng, said it would take a few days to get the kits tested and validated for general use. The test will take about three hours to ascertain whether a suspected patient actually had Sars, he added.

But health ministry officials were much less optimistic about the timescale.

Last week, Chinese officials claimed that the much lower figure then being given in Beijing included those in the military hospitals.

The conflict of evidence emerged after Jiang Yanyong, a former surgeon at one of the hospitals, made a statement accusing the health minister, Zhang Wenkang, of covering up the real figure.

Some of the discrepancy in the figures may be explained because China has a much narrower definition of probable cases - which critics say is done to reduce the overall numbers.

The latest news threatens the belated efforts now being made by China's leaders, President Hu Jintao and Premier Wen Jiabao, to restore confidence at home and abroad.

After weeks of official claims that the epidemic was under control, Mr Wen now says that the situation is "grave" and Mr Hu admits to being "very worried."

Five new deaths were reported yesterday in Hong Kong, which has been the worst hit area since the virus spread there from neighbouring Guangdong province in February.

The total number of cases so far in Hong Kong is 1,268 with 61 deaths, while 257 patients have fully recovered and been discharged from hospital.

Three babies were delivered by caesarean section in Hong Kong after their mothers became badly affected, doctors said yesterday. All had breathing problems and Sars-like fevers.

The threat of the unknown disease was first recognised in January by doctors in Guangdong where animal rearing takes place in many areas in close proximity to humans.

China says its first case was identified on March 1.