Sars deaths and cases soar in China

Twelve more people have died of the Sars virus and more than 300 new cases have been diagnosed in China.

The new numbers raised China's total number of deaths to 79 and its cases to 1,807, said senior Health Ministry official Gao Qiang.

Sars - severe acute respiratory syndrome - was first reported in China's southern Guangdong province last November.

China faced allegations that it was not sharing all of its statistics as the illness began to spread around the world.

In recent days, China's top leaders have begun warning local officials not to try to hide the disease and to report new cases quickly.

Gao's statement also provided a detailed breakdown of the places in China cases of the pneumonia-like illness, and deaths, have been that have reported since April 18.

The statement said 46 people had died in Guangdong, and 18 had died in Beijing, where 339 cases have been reported.

The central province of Shaanxi had 108 cases, while the northern territory of Inner Mongolia had 25 cases, the statement said.

In the south, Guangxi had 12 cases, Hunan six, Fujian three and the commercial centre of Shanghai two.

In central Chinese provinces, Henan reported two cases while Hunan had six. The southwestern province of Sichuan had five cases, the document said.

Most watched News videos