There has been no living area with mass infections of severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS) in Beijing, said Cai Fuchao, a senior municipal publicity official, at a press conference Friday.
No SARS cases have been spotted in local kindergartens, Cai said, and there have been "very, very few" children infected in Beijing.
The first child "patient" who was once referred to as the first SARS case in a certain local primary schools has been ruled out after a period of close observation and meticulous diagnosis, he added.
In term of age groups, most SARS patients in the city of Beijing are middle-aged people, and the elderly only cover a tiny part of the whole number of SARS patients, Cai said.
(Xinhua News Agency April 25, 2003)
