SARS-hit Beijing on Monday reopened its national library with the whole building, including the journals, disinfected and geared up to open other public cultural centres, closed for over a month, one by one.

China continued to keep the epidemic in check with no new case of the Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome and one death.

While cinemas will reopen on Tuesday, public cultural centres will reopen partly in mid-June after being closed for over one month due to the outbreak of the disease, state media Xinhua reported on Monday.

Public libraries and cultural centres would reopen one by one and in stages, Xinhua quoted Ruan Lanyu, an official with the Beijing municipal cultural bureau.

However, opening hours will be shorter than before and sites with poor ventilation will stay closed.

Places to be reopened have to strictly follow regulations concerning distribution of infection, issued by the Ministry of Health, the official said.

Staff should take their temperature daily and anyone registering a temperature higher than 37.5 centigrade Celsius would be barred entry.

To guard against and prevent the spread of SARS, libraries should disinfect books, journals, magazines and newspapers meticulously. Staff who serve readers are required to wear gloves and face masks.

Seats in reading rooms and training classrooms should be kept at a distance of 80 centimetres from each other.

A spokesman for the Beijing joint working team for SARS prevention and treatment said karaoke bars, internet cafes, discos and other entertainment centres are expected to resume business soon.

Meanwhile, with the death of one more person from SARS the death toll from the killer epidemic on the Chinese mainland to day rose to 340.

The Chinese capital reported zero cases during the last 24 hours ending 0730 IST on May 9, according to the Beijing joint anti-SARS task force.

The task force noted that the capital of Beijing has reported no new confirmed cases and no new suspected cases for two successive days, indicating a possible ebbing of the killer disease.

In Hong Kong, there was one death during the last 24 hours, taking the toll to 288. The Chinese territory also reported a single new case of SARS, the department of health said.

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