Monday, 07-Apr-2003 3:10AM

Story from AFP

GUANGZHOU, China, April 7 (AFP) - China was publicly criticised for its foot-dragging by the director of the World Health Organisation as WHO experts Monday dug deeper into the cause of the deadly SARS outbreak in the south of the country.

In WHO's first public criticism of China, the global health agency's director general Gro Harlem Brundtland said China should have reported its first cases of the atypical pneumonia, Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome (SARS), more quickly.

"Next time something strange and new comes ... let us come in as quickly as possible," she told the BBC.

"It would have been definitely helpful if the international expertise and WHO had been able to help at an earlier stage."

The criticism came as the mysterious disease claimed more victims in Canada and Hong Kong, as well as in Beijing, where an International Labour Organisation official died after arriving in mid-March for a conference.

He was the highest profile casualty of the outbreak since WHO expert Carlo Urbani -- who first identified the disease -- died in Bangkok last month.

In southern China's Guangdong province -- where the disease has affected more people than anywhere in the world -- a team of WHO experts stepped up efforts to find the cause.

The four-member team of epidemiologists and disease specialists broke up into small groups Monday to expedite their investigation.

Two experts met with Chinese animal disease and health officials while two others headed to hospitals.

Team leader Robert Breiman declined to comment on the new deaths, saying the team's focus was to first identify the source of the disease to help come up with effective treatment and prevent it from spreading further.

"We're still in the investigative phase here and so there's no point in me commenting about that," Breiman told reporters.

The disease, which first broke out in Guangdong, has now spread to as many as 32 countries, and is suspected or confirmed to have infected more than 2, 700 people, with the death toll rapidly approaching 100.

WHO experts said they were still awaiting specimen samples from China to study the virus' make-up in international laboratories, as China lacks the new technology to do so properly.

China, which insists it is "fully capable" of controlling the spread of SARS, has verbally agreed, but WHO officials are still waiting for the samples.

"It is very important because we think we will get the answer from here if from anywhere," WHO expert Wolfgang Preiser said.

Chinese scientists have found the coronavirus, paramyxovirus and the bacteria chlamydia in the Chinese cases, a deputy director of the Guangzhou No. 8 People's Hospital said Sunday.

But he said the presence of the coronavirus has not been confirmed. Breiman said it would not be pinpointed until the Chinese specimen samples are tested overseas.

Experts are focusing on the coronavirus because they suspect a strain of the coronavirus previously known to affect animals may be at work.

Influenzas have traditionally originated in southern China and experts now suspect the virus may be connected to local residents' close proximity and frequent contact with animals.

Breiman, who met with Chinese animal disease experts Monday, said after the meeting that there were no conclusive findings but discussions were "helpful."

"We discussed all kinds of animals ... livestock and domesticated animals and also wildlife. ... We asked about rodents and bats and birds and pigs and ducks and chickens," Breiman said, adding that pangolins were also discussed.

Official media reported Monday, quoting the health ministry, that two more people had died in China from SARS.

The China News Service said the toll had reached 53 as of Sunday with 1,268 cases.

Chinese officials Sunday said the death toll had reached 51 and the number of cases 1,247 as of Saturday.

In Beijing, diplomatic compounds were being disinfected Monday while jittery foreign companies began to issue face masks to employees and cancel business trips.


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