Beijing, May 11: A joint task force of Who and the Chinese government today reached Guangxi, one of the poorest provinces of the country, to help prevent an outbreak of the killer SARS epidemic in the rural southwest region. The joint taskforce, which arrived in the provincial capital Nanning, was headed by Yang Qing, a deputy director-general with ministry of health. World Health Organisation experts were led by C K Lee, an Australian epidemiologist, Xinhua news agency reported. Guangxi, a region with a population of 47 million, reported 20 clinically diagnosed Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome (SARS) cases and three deaths by May 10. Nine patients have already been discharged from hospitals upon recovery. The region has reported no new SARS cases since May 2.

The Chinese government and the WHO are both concerned about the possible outbreak of SARS in China`s under-developed rural areas where the medical facilities are not yet ready to treat such patients.

After the outbreak SARS in China, who experts have already visited China`s Guangdong and Hubei provinces as well as Beijing and Shanghai municipalities and advised local governments on measures to check the spread of the highly contagious disease.

SARS has so far killed 240 people in China and 215 in Hong Kong, the two countries worst hit by the epidemic. Bureau Report