Theatres, cinemas, Internet cafes and other public entertainment venues in Beijing havebeen forced to close today in an attempt to stop the spread of SARS as China's health ministry reported nine new deaths from the disease.
More than 300 people have now died worldwide and more than 4,600 people have been infected.
With the outbreak continuing to batter Asia, Taiwan announced its first death from the virus and imposed a 10-day mandatory quarantine on all travellers from areas hit hard by the flu-like disease.
Taiwan's first victim was a 56-year-old man who died on Saturday night. He contracted severe acute respiratory syndrome after his brother visited him. The brother was diagnosed with SARS after returning to Hong Kong weeks ago, officials said.
Twelve more SARS patients have died in Hong Kong, matching the territory's previous one-day record, but health officials today reported just 16 new infections, the lowest total yet since the government began releasing daily statistics last month.
SARS has killed 121 in Hong Kong and affected 1,527 people.
Beijing's closures were ordered to "stop possible spread of the SARS virus and ensure public health," the official Xinhua New Agency reported. The measure was announced just days after the city shut down schools, sending home 1.7 million students.
Eight of China's nine new SARS deaths were in Beijing, said health ministry spokesman Deng Haihua. The new deaths lifted the Chinese mainland's death toll to 131 with almost 3,000 people taken ill across the country, Deng said.
Hundreds of construction workers were working around-the-clock on a new 1,000-bed isolation camp on the capital's northern outskirts, assembling plastic and metal panels into a honeycomb of one-storey rooms on a large field beside an abandoned factory.
The length of the closures of entertainment venues will depend on progress made in combating Sars, which has killed at least 42 people and affected 988 in Beijing, Xinhua said.
Beijing's entertainment businesses have already suffered massive losses as nervous residents shun public places for fear of catching the virus.
Restaurants and shopping centres remained open today 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.
The communist government has been widely criticised for failing to respond earlier to pleas for action and officials have replaced both Beijing's mayor and the health minister amid the outrage.
Starting immediately, foreigners arriving in Taiwan from countries hit hard by SARS will be quarantined for 10 days at government-designated quarters yet to be announced, while Taiwan residents will have to stay at home, premier Yu Shyi-kun said.
Taiwanese who break their government's quarantine will be held at the government-designated quarters. All violators, foreigners or Taiwanese, can be jailed for up to two years or fined around #5,000.
In the Philippines, Catholics accepted communion wafers by hand instead of a priest placing them directly in the mouth.
Manila's Archbishop Cardinal Jaime Sin also asked people in this predominantly Roman Catholic nation to refrain from the common practice of kissing public religious statues.
The Malaysian government ordered more than 280 workers and patients at a psychiatric hospital in the city of Kuching to be quarantined, after three patients showed suspected SARS symptoms, an official said.
India reported its sixth case of Sars, in the eastern city of Calcutta, health officials said.
The World Health Organisation confirmed on Saturday it is reconsidering the travel warning it issued last week for Toronto, where SARS claimed a 20th victim in Canada yesterday.
Toronto, Canada's largest city, is the centre of the biggest outbreak of Sars outside of Asia.
AP