The Beijing Municipal Culture Bureau, Public Security Bureau and the Industry and Commerce Bureau jointly made the decision in line with the national law on epidemic prevention and treatment.

Sources with the Municipal Culture Bureau said it is difficult for entertainment venues to meet the city's requirements for disinfection and ventilation. The decision was made to stop the possible spread of the SARS virus and ensure public health.

The sources said the resumption of these business would depend on the progress of SARS prevention. The disease has killed at least 56 people and sickened 988 in Beijing. Discos and karaoke parlors were also among places ordered shut.

Public libraries also have been closed but will reopen on May 8.

During the suspension, muni-cipal government bodies, includ-ing the three bureaus, will step up inspections of closed venues.

The decision was announced just days after the city shut down primary and secondary schools, sending home 1.7 million students.

Beijing's entertainment shut-down came amid increasingly drastic official steps to contain severe acute respiratory synd-rome, including the quarantine of thousands of people this past week in Beijing and the sealing off of at least three hospitals because of SARS infections.

A sign posted on the door of a movie theater in eastern Beijing said, "Cultural and entertainment spaces are temporarily closed for business beginning today. Thank you for understanding."

At Beijing's South Cathedral, a sign in English pasted on the outer door said Mass was suspended for one month due to city Health Bureau rules requiring that "all congregations greater than 50 be canceled." The note didn't elaborate and an accompanying sign in Chinese said only that services were canceled to ensure the health of parishioners and clergy."

With Beijing's cases showing no sign of ebbing, hundreds of construction workers were working around-the-clock on a new 1,000-bed isolation camp for SARS victims in the rural district of Xiaotangshan on Beijing's northern outskirts.

Workers were assembling plastic and metal panels into a honey comb of one-story rooms on a large field beside an abandoned factory, about 1 kilometer from the town.

Other new anti-SARS measures included raising the maximum fine for spitting in public - thought to be a means of SARS transmission - to 50 yuan (US$6) and the suspension of marriage registration.

Beijing's entertainment businesses have already suffered massive losses as nervous residents shun public places for fear of catching the virus.

Restaurants and shopping centers remained open yesterday, although customers were few. Public parks, Tiananmen Square, and historical sites such as the Forbidden City - the sprawling former home of China's emperors - were mostly empty because of a ban on Chinese tour groups traveling outside their home provinces.

The World Health Organization has also advised travelers to avoid nonessential trips to Beijing.

(eastday.com April 28, 2003)