Beijing’s SARS Data Incomplete, Health Agency Says

Beijing has not explained how half of its SARS patients caught the virus, hindering efforts to slow the disease in the world’s most populous nation, the World Health Organization said Saturday.

Severe acute respiratory syndrome is surfacing in new and unexpected places in Taiwan, the WHO said, and the U.S. State Department said it was allowing its nonessential personnel to leave the island.

Taiwan reported 23 more cases and four more deaths Saturday.

The tiny gambling enclave of Macao, near Hong Kong, confirmed its first case of SARS.

China reported five more deaths and Hong Kong two, boosting the worldwide SARS death count to at least 526. More than 7,200 people have been infected in more than 25 countries, including 85 new cases reported in China. China has reported more than 4,800 cases.

The WHO is still trying to figure out why Beijing does not have the data, or so-called contact reports, that help trace how a patient became infected, WHO spokeswoman Mangai Balasegaram said.

“Right now the situation is that we have a whole load of people, and we don’t know where they got the disease,” she said. “The epidemic might be flying off in one direction, and you might not know about it.”

Balasegaram said the lack of information might have to do with bad reporting, with some hospitals inadvertently failing to file complete reports or the changing nature of the illness itself.

Taiwan also faced tough problems in battling its worsening outbreak. Taipei city officials ordered all passengers on the capital’s subway to wear masks beginning today.

Earlier, officials were able to quickly trace and isolate those infected -- many of whom had recently visited China or Hong Kong.

But SARS has begun spreading rapidly within Taiwan’s general community, making it harder to stop.

The island, claimed by China, has more than 22 million people.