China today voiced fears that more Sars cases could emerge in the country as Asian health ministers met in Penang to work out a common plan to contain future outbreaks.

"There may be a possibility of more (Sars) cases," China's Vice Minister of Health Zhu Qinsheng told reporters after briefing his colleagues from the 10-member Association of Southeast Asian Nations (Asean).

China has reported two confirmed and two possible Sars cases, ringing alarm bells across Asia, but Zhu pledged that Beijing would provide timely information to the world to prevent the spread of the disease.

Zhu said China was now better prepared to combat the deadly Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome (Sars) and had put in place a surveillance system.

"We will cooperate with Asian countries. We will be transparent in all our cases. We will be honest," he told reporters.

Takashi Minagawa, councillor with Japan's ministry of health, labour and welfare, said there was no need for the public to panic.

"I think we are not afraid as compared to when Sars broke out last year. We are better prepared. We do not expect a large number of cases," he said.

Minagawa said Japan was pleased at the speed with which China revealed the case and the steps taken to isolate the people believed to be affected.

"We are happy with China's attitude. China has assured us it will provide updates of the situation in their country," he said.

Better prepared

China was criticized for delays in reporting the first outbreaks of Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome (Sars) in late 2002. It was accused of trying to cover up the epidemic, allowing it to spread to other countries.

Sars went on to kill nearly 800 people, mostly in Asia, and infected more than 8,000 worldwide.

Chinese officials have confirmed one suspected case of Sars.

The latest suspected case "rings alarm bells", Indonesia's Health Minister Achmad Sujudi told reporters, but added that the region was now better prepared to respond to the disease.

"We have learnt from previous experience how to prevent it from spreading. We will operationalise our disease control mechanism," he said.

Health ministers from China, Japan and South Korea are meeting here with their Southeast Asian counterparts for the first time to adopt a common strategy to beat outbreaks of communicable diseases such as Sars and are expected to release details of the plan later Friday.

Surveillance system

Wilfrido Villacorta, deputy Asean secretary-general told AFP that with the adoption of the plan, Asean would be better prepared to deal with future outbreaks.

"A mechanism has been developed to have a surveillance system to detect and to respond quickly to outbreaks. Basically, we are now better prepared to reduce damage. This is what we want," he said.

China Thursday reported a suspected case of Sars in Beijing, nearly a year after the city declared victory over the respiratory disease which had a massive impact on travel, tourism and business, costing regional economies billions of dollars.

The latest patient is a 20-year-old woman surnamed Li from central China's Hebei province who was working as a nurse in Beijing's Jiangong Hospital. She lived in a hospital dormitory.

Li began showing symptoms including shivering, fever and coughing on April 5 and was admitted to Jiangong Hospital on April 7.

Under quarantine

Five people who have had close contact with her and are suffering from fevers - one of the symptoms of the highly infectious disease - are being treated under quarantine.

A 26-year-old student has also been hospitalized and is under observation after being diagnosed with pneumonia last month. She has not been officially classified as a suspected Sars case by China however.

The World Health Organisation warned earlier this year that Sars, like the outbreak this year of bird flu, remained a "major area of concern".

Bird flu affected some 10 Asian nations, killed at least 23 people and led to the culling of millions of chickens. - AFP