TOKYO, Aug. 25 (Xinhuanet) -- Japan's health ministry conducted joint drills Monday with the Tokyo metropolitan government and its neighboring Chiba prefectural government to prepare for a possible outbreak of severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS) in Japan.

　　The drills were conducted based on the scenario that two people had returned from an overseas business trip with symptoms of the illness, such as coughing and a high fever, and that one of them had tested positive for the virus.

　　More than 100 people, including doctors and employees from public health centers, took part in rehearsing the drills, which lasted 9 hours, said officials of the Health, Labor and Welfare Ministry.

　　The drills involved transporting the patient to a hospital, disinfecting a hotel, interviewing people who may have been in physical contact with the infected person, and informing the governments about the case.

　　The ministry will instruct local governments to conduct SARS drills by November if they have not done so already as some experts have warned of another SARS outbreak in winter, the officials said.

　　According to the World Health Organization, the number of people infected with SARS between last November and Aug. 7 this year came to 8,422, of which 916, or 11 percent, had died. Enditem