Beijing: As the SARS virus continued to hold China in its grip leading the government to take the unprecedented step of quarantining nearly 8,000 people in the capital and isolating 100 medical facilities, Chinese Premier Wen Jiabo said the country would emerge "stronger than ever" from the crisis.

With six SARS deaths being reported in Inner Mongolia, the province followed Beijing's example and shut libraries, museums, cinemas and Internet cafes to check the spread of the epidemic.

The government struggled to stem growing panic over the spread of the epidemic and the Ministry of Commerce ordered that enough commodities and medical supplies are available as the World Health Organisation (WHO) stressed co-operation from Beijing authorities in fighting SARS.

A total of 7,672 people had been quarantined and quarantine measures were enforced at a residential quarter of Renmin hospital, three dormitory buildings in the Northern Jiaatono University and two dormitory buildings in Beijing Science and Technology Research Institute.

The quarantine control was also taken in 24 designated SARS patient hospitals, and in the SARS patient reception areas of 29 general hospitals as well as the fever outpatient departments in 74 hospitals.

As the nation reeled under the SARS-scare, Premier Wen said, "I believe the Chinese people will be even more united and the Chinese nation will emerge from the SARS disaster stronger than ever."

As of April 27, Beijing had 1,114 confirmed cases of SARS and 1,191 suspected cases. A total of 56 patients had died.

PTI