Beijing: Struggling to deal with the spiralling Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome (SARS) epidemic, China on April 23 ordered closure of all schools in the capital for a fortnight and sent hundreds of investigators to look for those with symptoms of the killer disease to be treated in six designated hospitals.

A daily deadline to every town in the country has also been given to report SARS, with the Ministry of Health giving strict orders to include cases in all hospitals, including military facilities.

In Beijing, 558 people are confirmed to have SARS and another 666 are classified as suspect as the toll throughout the country has gone up to 97.

A 39-year-old New Zealand tourist with suspected SARS symptoms has been discovered in North West Shaanxi province with symptoms of killer SARS as he was bout to board a flight to Beijing and has been quarantined and is receiving treatment, the state media reported on April 23.

Education authorities in China have decided to extend the suspension of classes for an extra two weeks. The measure has been taken to "protect the lives and health of more than 1.7 million pupils," according to an official statement.

Schools were due to close next week over the May Day holiday, but the break has been extended.

Mid-term exams have been cancelled and pupils have been asked not to go to public places, reports said.

With the virus spreading like wild fire, China's Health Ministry also issued daily deadlines for every town to report cases. Each of China's provincial health departments must now report figures in the Ministry of Health by noon each day.

Authorities had also ordered a policy of "zero reporting", whereby even if there were no confirmed cases counties must still make a daily report.

Meanwhile, China has not yet decided on attending the special informal Association of South-East Asian Nations (ASEAN) summit on SARS, the killer disease, a senior official has said.

While expressing China's support for such a summit, Chinese Foreign Ministry Spokesman Liu Jianchao said the government has not yet decided.

"As for whether Chinese leaders will attend the conference, we are not studying the case," he said on April 22, when asked whether a Chinese leader would attend the special summit to be held in Bangkok on April 29.

"We have maintained contacts with ASEAN on this issue," he said.

In Shanghai, a World Health Organisation (WHO) team began its third day of investigations.

Also Hong Kong, which has recorded 250 suspected cases of SARS, announced an 11.8 billion Hong Kong Dollar ($ 1.5 billion) economic package to lessen the impact of the deadly outbreak.

According to the WHO, SARS has resulted in the death of 228 people and infected 3,947 people in 25 countries.

PTI