Nurses push a SARS patient into a sickroom in Ditan Hospital in Beijing on the eve of the International Nurses' Day which falls on May 12.

　　BEIJING, May 12 (Xinhuanet) -- The drop in the number of severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS) cases on the Chinese mainland has accelerated since May 8, said Yao Keqin, a senior analyst with the national SARS prevention and treatment team, here Monday.

　　The number of new SARS cases reported in the 24 hours till 10:00 a.m. Monday was 75, one of the lowest number since Apr. 20, according to figures from the Ministry of Health.

　　An analysis shows that on May 12, SARS cases declined by 63 percent of the peak number on April 28, and the reported cases in Beijing dropped by 68 percent.

　　Sixty to 70 percent of the reported SARS cases in Beijing were previously reported as suspect cases.

　　The decrease in SARS cases showed measures adopted by the Beijing government had been effective, Yao said.

　　Since the middle of April, 60 percent of reported cases had been in Beijing, and the trends in Beijing and on the mainland were similar, showing that the changes in Beijing's situation greatly affected the situation on the mainland, he said.

　　Of the SARS patients in Beijing, the number of people aged from 20 to 29 is the largest, accounting for 31.3 percent. Numbers of patients aged from 30 to 39 and 40 to 49 account for 22.6 and 17.8 percent respectively.

　　The SARS patients in Beijing were mainly medical workers, retirees, clerks and migrant workers, Yao said.

　　But compared with numbers in the second ten days of April, the ratio of infected medical workers decreased from 22.2 to 13.4 percent, while the ratio of migrant workers increased from 7.1 to 13.4 percent in the first ten days of May, according to the analysis. Enditem