| Taiwan, grappling with the world's third-most severe outbreak of the deadly SARS virus, reported on Tuesday a daily record of 39 new infections taking the total to 383 probable cases.
The Department of Health said the death toll from Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome (SARS) remained at 40 and another 63 people had recovered from the flu-like virus.
The rising number of infections came against an improving trend elsewhere in Asia. Worst-hit China reported on Monday its lowest batch of new SARS cases.
More than 90 percent of Taiwan's cases are the result of hospital infections, following a slew of outbreaks in at least six major hospitals in the last four weeks.
About 140 medical staff at two major hospitals have quit for fear of catching the respiratory disease.
In another setback, the World Health Organization's annual assembly refused to give Taiwan observer status for the seventh year in a row despite the island's fears that continued exclusion was harming its fight against SARS.
China considers the self-governing island of 23 million a renegade province and says it is ineligible to join the WHO.
Source: Reuters | |
