Beijing: Chinese Premier has called the SARS (Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome) situation in the country "grim" with the flu-like epidemic claiming five more victims in the mainland and three in Hong Kong, as the World Health Organisation (WHO) cautioned Beijing against too much of optimism in containing the disease.

"Looking at the nationwide situation, SARS prevention and control work has attained certain achievements, but the situation is still grim," the Xinhua agency quoted Premier Wen Jiabao as saying. "On the whole, the epidemic situation is not fully under control and still has a danger to continue to spread," Wen said.

Police in Northern China had detained at least nine people for rioting against the government's plans to build a SARS clinic in their village. They were detained on suspicions of assaulting police, destroying property or looting during a series of riots in the Northern coastal industrial city of Tianjin, the Xinhua reported on May 10, confirming the incident that took place last week.

Tianjin, with seven deaths and 157 cases of SARS, is the latest city in China where scared people damaged vehicles and blocked roads to prevent the building of SARS clinics or stop the return of thousands of migrant workers from Beijing and other bigger cities.

The report said three suspects incited over 300 people to gather at a medical unit construction site in the Hongqiao district in early May. They used telephone poles and bricks to block the road leading to the clinic, which the government wanted to convert into a SARS clinic.

PTI