Chinese schools shut over Sars fears

Nearly two million children in China are to be kept out of school to prevent the spread of the deadly Sars virus.

The May Day school holiday, which begins tomorrow, has been extended by at least two weeks in the capital, Beijing, where at least 28 people have died from Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome.

A government spokesman said the measure was taken to "protect the lives and health of the more than 1.7million pupils". So far Sars has killed at least 236 people and infected 4,200 in 26 countries.

At Heathrow, travellers arriving from the Far East wore face masks as it emerged a Briton may have died from Sars after returning home from a holiday in Thailand.

The body of the 33-year-old man, who died at his home in Pontypridd, South Wales, is still undergoing tests.

Most patients survive Sars - it has a mortality rate estimated at about six per cent - but there is no known cure. In the UK, six cases of Sars have been identified, and all but one of the victims has been released from hospital.