BEIJING, May 4: China ordered schools in Beijing to stay closed another two weeks and put aside politics to allow a WHO team to visit Taiwan as the communist giant took tough measures to contain the spread of the lethal SARS virus.

In Hong Kong, a major health scare ended happily for 10 Indian sailors, who were released from hospital and declared free of the virus after their tanker made an emergency stop in the territory.

Beijing, which had been reporting well over 100 new cases a day over the past couple of weeks, saw 69 fresh cases and four deaths on Sunday, the health ministry said. A WHO team of experts arrived there on Saturday after Beijing had earlier rejected the organisation’s offer of help for the island.

China considers the self-ruling island to be a renegade province. The United Nations does not recognise Taiwan as an independent country, so permission was needed from Beijing to allow the UN-affiliated WHO to visit.—Reuters