Beijing: China today (April 25, 2004) reported five new suspect Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome (SARS) cases have been isolated with fever while samples from another woman suspected to have SARS are being tested to confirm whether or not she died from the disease.

A statement by the Beijing municipal government said two people have been confirmed as having come down with SARS, two people are suspected to have the disease while five out of 13 people who have had close contact with the patients have developed SARS-like fevers.

One suspect patient has died, with samples arriving in Beijing early today to confirm whether or not the 53-year old woman had died from SARS.

The woman was the mother of a woman named Song who worked at the Institute of Virology in Beijing, one of China's top SARS labs, and who was the first to be diagnosed with the respiratory disease in this most recent outbreak.

Meanwhile, the Beijing Government announced the potentially embarrassing closure of the institute, which is operated by China's Center for Disease Control and Prevention, as the World Health Organisation (WHO) said it was setting up a joint team to investigate bio-safety issues at the lab.

"The Ministry of Health as of yesterday afternoon instructed the Beijing city government to take measures to isolate and close down the concerned laboratory," the statement issued by the Beijing Government said.