NBA star hosts SARS telethon; Taiwan subway riders don masks

BEIJING -- Chinese basketball star Yao Ming hosted a telethon to raise money for SARS research Sunday, while subway riders in Taiwan's capital of Taipei were ordered to wear surgical masks to curb the spread of the highly contagious illness.

China's number of new cases reported Sunday was 69, the lowest number in weeks, with five deaths. Premier Wen Jiabao said officials must redouble efforts against the disease.

"There absolutely can be no simply going through the motions, no acting in a superficial way," Wen said, according to the official Xinhua News Agency.

He warned of the dangers in Shanxi and other poor, rural areas.

The worldwide SARS toll rose to at least 536 with 10 new deaths -- five in China, three in Hong Kong and one each in Taiwan and Singapore. More than 7,300 people have been infected in more than 25 countries.

Nearly 5,000 cases have been reported in mainland China, where the disease is believed to have originated, with Beijing hit the hardest.

Yao, the 7-foot-6 center for the Houston Rockets, answered questions about his first season in the NBA and signed basketballs and other memorabilia for callers. The three-hour telethon broadcast from his hometown of Shanghai raised more than $300,000 to help researchers seeking a cure. SARS has killed at least 240 people in China, the most of any country in the world.

'A most serious trial'

"I returned to my motherland, but found it struggling through a most serious trial. Now everyone needs to make their contribution to the fight against SARS," said Yao, who is immensely popular at home.

Yao had a little help from his friends. Chinese national soccer player Qi Hong and women's national soccer team captain Sun Wen made appearances, and NBA players and former stars including Shaquille O'Neal and Magic Johnson appeared in videotaped messages.

"I love you, xie xie, peace," said O'Neal, using the Chinese word for thank you.

Yao also taped a public service announcement for Shanghai television in which he tells viewers: "We need your portion of strength to conquer SARS."

In Beijing, Communist Party chief Liu Qi said the city's outbreak had been "effectively contained," but urged continued vigilance. Beijing reported four new deaths and 42 new cases, continuing a steady decline in the number of new infections reported.

The World Health Organization, however, says it is far too early to say the disease is on the decline in Beijing or China, and that a key issue is trusting the veracity of the Chinese reports.

"The problem is there are still questions on how those numbers are being compiled and analyzed," WHO spokesman Iain Simpson said Sunday. "We would love to take the numbers at face value but at the moment we're just not sure if we can or not."

Simpson said he thought Liu's announcement was premature. "We think that China is in for the medium-haul," he said.

Taiwan announced the death of a hospital nurse, raising its toll to 19, and 12 new cases. Taiwan is installing video cameras to keep watch over about 8,000 people quarantined in their homes. Officials say they fear the disease may be spreading outside Taipei.

In a new restriction, all passengers on Taipei's subway system now must wear medical masks. When the measure took effect Sunday, the usual din of conversation on trains was absent as masked people sat quietly.

Many wore baseball hats, apparently hoping to get extra protection against the virus. At train depots, cleaners scrubbed hand rails of cars with bleach-dipped cloths.

In Hong Kong, where 215 people have died and 1,678 been infected, only four new cases were reported Sunday.

A researcher who helped pioneer a drug cocktail treatment for AIDS patients said the SARS virus seems to attack human cells in a manner akin to HIV, a finding which may help treat the newfound illness.

Dr. David Ho, scientific director of the Aaron Diamond AIDS Research Center in New York, said there were promising results from laboratory tests on the SARS virus using an anti-HIV treatment -- synthetic peptides, which are amino acids that slow AIDS in an expensive drug called Fuzeon.

Tests using animals could take place soon, though it is too early to use such medications to treat human SARS patients.

"We're not saying this is the drug to treat (SARS) patients tomorrow or next month," Ho said in Hong Kong.

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On the Net:

World Health Organization: http://www.who.int/en/