Beijing: China, considered the epicentre of the deadly atypical pneumonia epidemic worldwide, has launched an emergency research programme to combat the disease that has claimed over 140 lives globally.

The Chinese Ministry of Science and Technology and the Ministry of Health have jointly launched the $ 1.2 million emergency research programme on Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome (SARS), the state-run China Central Television (CCTV) reported.

The programme, for which an initial fund of $ 400,000 has been put in place, will look into the cause of the disease and effective prevention and treatment measures and is also meant to enhance China's emergency response capacity in the event of an outbreak of new contagious diseases.

It's testing time for China's medical workers with the cause of SARS, which has killed nearly 100 and affected over 1,400 in China, not yet identified.

As on April 14, a cumulative total of 3,169 cases of SARS, with 144 deaths, have been reported to the World Health Organisation (WHO) from 21 countries.

China has been criticised for its initial slow response to the outbreak of SARS that occurred on November 16 2002, in Southern province of Guangdong. After keeping quiet for nearly three months, authorities reported the outbreak of atypical pneumonia in Guangdong in February 2003.

It took over one month for the government to allow the WHO to conduct an on-the-spot investigation in the worst hit Guangdong.

PTI