An 11-member joint working group composed of WHO experts and officials from the Chinese Ministry of Health arrived in Taiyuan Tuesday afternoon on a 10-day study tour to witness severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS) prevention work in Shanxi Province.

The World Health Organization (WHO), lifted last Friday the travel warning against Tianjin, Hebei, Shanxi and Inner Mongolia, all in north China.

On Tuesday afternoon, Wang Xin, vice-governor of Shanxi Province, briefed the experts on Shanxi's work and future plans on SARS prevention and treatment.

Local government institutions would play a major role in this regard and help rebuild public confidence, she said, and medical workers would conduct more research and studies for fighting SARS.

The province would set up a long-term public health emergency response system, She added.

Shanxi Provincial Governor Liu Zhenhua said that his province would fully cooperate with the experts during their stay here.

Prior to their arrival in Taiyuan, the WHO experts had successively visited Guangdong, Beijing, Shanghai, Hebei, Guangxi, Anhui, Henan and Tianjin.

(Xinhua News Agency June 18, 2003)