China on Wednesday announced that nine people have died and 361 cases of the deadly atypical pneumonia were reported in the worst-affected Guangdong province in the month of March and several cases discovered in Hunan province.
China made the announcement even as the World Health Organisation advised against travel to Hong Kong and Guangdong.
WHO issued the advice "because of the fact that we don't completely understand the means of transmission in Hong Kong and since March 15, tourists and businessman have returned from Hong Kong to their countries with infection," David Heymann, head of agency's communicable diseases unit told reporters.
Last week China announced that 34 people, 31 in South China's Guangdong province and three in Beijing, had died of atypical pneumonia which the WHO has identified as Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome originated in Guangdong.
Responding to worldwide concern, the health department of Guangdong province announced that SARS has been brought under control, with a drastic drop in the number of people contracting the respiratory disease.
A spokesman for the department said 361 cases of atypical pneumonia were reported in March, down 47.5 per cent from February.
Health departments and organisations in the province, bordering Hong Kong, have been working hard to combat the disease since its outbreak.
More specialists have been assigned to work on the Provincial Medical Rescue Expert Group and the joint key task force for research on epidemiology and monitoring pathology, the report said.
"A range of comprehensive measures have been adopted to constrain the disease, including ventilating rooms, disinfecting hospitals, isolating patients who have already contracted the disease, and using respirators," the report said.
China, on Tuesday, had said the country was safe for tourists as well as business visitors since the SARS has been contained effectively.
More from rediff