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China Spends Over 4 billion Yuan for SARS Control in Rural Areas... WHO Says It May Lift China Travel Warning...China Striving for Control and Elimination of SARS...Foreign Businessmen Back to China... 
 
China has invested more than 500 million U.S dollars in ensuring free medical treatment for SARS patients in rural areas.

Half of the fund has been specifically allocated for rural patients' medical costs, while the other half will be used to facilitate and improve medical systems.

Meanwhile, Beijing Communist Party Chief Liu Qi says Beijing should pay attention to both its SARS control work as well as the city’s economic development. 
 
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The World Health Organization's chief representative in China Henk Bekedam says it may lift an advisory against travel to Beijing, pending a continuing decline in the city's new SARS cases.
Speaking at a SARS conference in Beijing, Bekedam says the situation looks quite promising, and they are encouraged by the decline, citing control measures as reasons for the success.

Health officials from China, Japan, South Korea and member countries of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations are in Beijing for talks on ways to increase cooperation in the fight against SARS. 
 
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A senior Chinese official says the country's efforts to prevent and treat the SARS epidemic are becoming increasingly standardized and carried out in an orderly way.

Speaking at a two-day anti-SARS symposium attended by members of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations as well as China, Japan and South Korea, vice Health Minister Gao Qiang admitted the emergency alert and response system during the initial stage of the outbreak was inefficient.

The official briefed attendees on China's anti-SARS measures, such as intensifying organizational efforts and integrating the legal system as well as strengthening scientific studies related to SARS. 
 
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A report by Singapore's English language newspaper, The Straits Times, says foreign businessmen are trickling back to China as the SARS epidemic eases.

A clear indication of this is the slight increase in room occupancy at major business hotels in Beijing, Shanghai and Guangzhou.

The Beijing Hilton Hotel saw occupancy go up from a low of 10 per cent in April to about 15 per cent late last month, although this is still a far cry from the usual 70 to 80 per cent during this time of the year.

Most of the guests were from Europe and the United States, and had made reservations earlier, an indication that businessmen were sticking to travel plans now that the SARS outbreak was easing.