Beijing: Chinese military medical personnel on May 1 took charge of the world's first 1000-bed hospital exclusively to treat the Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome (SARS) epidemic, as 11 deaths were reported in China and five in Hong Kong on a sober May Day largely spent indoors without much celebration.

A Taiwanese nurse treating the SARS patients died, as Canada, worst-hit after Asia reported two more deaths, one day after rejoicing over the lift of a World Health Organisation (WHO) warning against travel to Toronto city.

With the 187 new cases reported on May 1, China's nation-wide death toll now stands at 170 and the number of cases at 3,647.

With the five new casualties, the death toll in Hong Kong special administrative region has mounted to 162, which include five men aged between 34 and 83.

It also reported 11 new patients since April 30 much less than the usual 30 to 40 till April 29, taking the total number of infections to 1,600 since March 12.

The SARS hospital in Xiaotangshan in the northern suburbs of Beijing was built by 7000 workers in eight days and the facility would be manned by chinese People's Liberation Army (PLA) doctors and other medical personnel, according to authorities.

Nearly 800 military medical personnel had already arrived at the hospital, to which some 200 SARS patients from other local hospitals have been moved.

China's health ministry said that seven of the 11 new deaths were in the capital Beijing, currently the hardest hit place in the world, and the city accounted for 122 of the latest cases.

PTI