China's Ministry of Health (MOH) resumed its daily public reporting on severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS) on the Chinese mainland on Friday.

A spokesman for the ministry announced that there was no new clinically confirmed or suspected SARS case in the 24 hours from 10:00 a.m. Sept. 18.

"There is no new SARS case in the Chinese mainland according to reports from all localities," the spokesman said.

The last two SARS patients on the Chinese mainland were discharged from hospital on Aug. 16. Since then, there has been no new case and the MOH suspended daily reporting later.

"China's health system, however, has been maintaining vigilance against SARS and practicing daily reporting, including zero reporting," the MOH spokesman said.

The resumption of the daily reporting to the public was in response to public inquiries on the latest situation, the spokesman said.

Different areas had also worked out emergency plans to curb SARS and planned to have emergency drills before Sept. 30.

SARS cases had been reported in 24 provinces, autonomous regions and municipalities in China since the beginning of 2003. The accumulative SARS cases totaled 5,327 on the mainland, including 349 deaths, as of Aug. 16.

Henk Bekedam, the World Health Organization (WHO) representative in China, told Xinhua he was glad to see that the MOH resumed reporting on SARS to the public on a regular basis.

"We have discussed the issue with the MOH and are glad that they are informing the public on a regular basis of the country's surveillance and monitoring system on the SARS epidemic," he said.

Bob Dietz, spokesman for the WHO in China, said the resumption of the daily reporting indicated how seriously the Chinese government was dealing with SARS.

"We rely on China's report," he said.

(Xinhua News Agency September 20, 2003)