Four new suspected cases of the potentially deadly Sars disease have been reported in the Chinese capital, the health ministry said on Sunday, after the first reported death from the virus since a major outbreak last year.
No new suspected or confirmed cases of the flu-like illness that killed hundreds of people worldwide last year were reported in other provinces, but 337 people were under medical observation in Beijing, it said in the statement.
One Chinese woman from eastern Anhui province suspected of having Sars died on April 19. China has confirmed two other women contracted the virus in a chain of infection believed to have spread from a research laboratory in Beijing.
The woman died after taking care of her daughter, a medical student surnamed Song, who is believed to have caught the virus in March while working at the Chinese National Institute of Virology in Beijing, engaged in research involving the Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome coronavirus.
The second confirmed Sars victim, a 20-year-old nurse surnamed Li, cared for Song in a Beijing hospital earlier this month, according to the official Xinhua news agency.