China Opens Door to World Help With Its Sars Crisis

China opened itself to unprecedented external scrutiny yesterday in a desperate bid to contain its Sars epidemic and restore its image after an inconsistent approach to the crisis.

The new prime minister, Wen Jaibao, insisted after an emergency summit with south-east Asian leaders in Bangkok that China was acting completely openly and leaving no stone unturned to prevent the spread of Sars in the world's most populous nation.

"I'm daring to face the fact [of Sars] and I'm daring the whole world on this issue," a clearly nervous but determined Mr Wen said. "The Chinese government is here in a spirit of candour, responsibility, trust and cooperation."

Amid reports of panicking peasants rioting and as another nine Sars deaths were announced in China and Hong Kong yesterday, Mr Wen admitted it would still be a long struggle to contain the disease and that China could not do it alone.

"The Chinese situation is still grave," he said. "There's the need for us to recognise the fact that Sars is going to be a long-term, complex and relapsing epidemic. A friend in need is a friend indeed."

Mr Wen said China was now agreeing to all the measures recommended by the World Health Organisation and the Association of South-East Asian Nations as the number of infected people in China exceeded 3,300. Experts say it is showing no sign of significant decline.

The action plan the leaders agreed on yesterday included the taking of "rigorous measures" at international departure points, such as "pre-departure and arrival screening and better flight management", according to a statement released by the 10 Asean leaders, Mr Wen and Hong Kong's chief executive, Tung Chee-hwa.

To demonstrate his sincerity, Mr Wen said WHO representatives, who have complained about lack of cooperation from China, would now have unfettered access."I can say responsibly that the WHO may send people to wherever they want to go, whenever they want."

China also proposed the establishment of a special regional fund "on Sars control and prevention and the eradication of its multifarious impacts", the statement said. Mr Wen immediately pledged £750,000 to it.

Among new strict measures announced yesterday, China said it was closing its stock exchange from May 1 to May 9.

Mr Wen is confident such actions will prove decisive. "I believe that as long as we can concretely implement all those measures ... we will be able to have the situation gradually brought under control," he said.

In a rare moment of honesty for a Chinese leader, Mr Wen accepted that his government had a duty to the whole world to tackle Sars effectively and that this burden was affecting him personally.

The global death toll is now at least 355 and the number of infections is more than 5,300.

The WHO's chief of communicable diseases, Dr David Heymann, praised Beijing's new-found determination and transparency.

"On Monday China began extremely intensified activities to not only identify where Sars is occurring but to contain the outbreaks," he said.

"That includes training and retraining their hospital staff in infection control and lots of other activities that are recommended to prevent the spread of Sars."

The praise was not universal though, as Japan and South Korea yesterday ordered all their students remaining in Beijing to return home because of Sars fears.

A study of the first 10 children to be admitted to hospital with Sars in Hong Kong shows teenagers had symptoms which were very similar to those of adults - malaise, muscle ache, chill and stiffness - while younger children suffered milder effects, such as coughs and a runny nose, it was reported yesterday.