An additional $10 million has been set aside to help the Hospital Authority contain the spread of atypical pneumonia.

Announcing the decision, Financial Secretary Antony Leung praised medical personnel for their dedication and professionalism in fighting the mystery illness. He said the Chief Executive has pledged to provide all necessary support to tackle it.

As at 3pm today, there were 203 people suspected of contracting severe acute respiratory disease. Of them, 197 have signs of pneumonia and the remainder are under observation.

Among those infected, 38 are in intensive caret. The death toll remains unchanged

Secretary for Health, Welfare & Food Dr Yeoh Eng-kiong said healthcare professionals and their families constituted the majority of cases, indicating that the disease was transmitted by close contact and that it was very infectious in its late stages.

He urged doctors to wear masks when seeing patients, particularly those with respiratory symptoms.

Other simple preventive measures the whole community should take are:

* Children should not go to school with cough and fever;

* People with cough and cold should wear a mask; and,

* People should be considerate and cough or sneeze into a handkerchief or tissue, and not into the open.

Dr Yeoh said Mainland health authorities are working with their Hong Kong counterparts. He said the difference in size between the Mainland and Hong Kong, and their different medical systems, meant it was much easier to collect information on our side of the boundary.

Dr Yeoh said 70% of the first round of about 100 patients had improved with the current treatment of ribavirin and steroids. Other than the few patients who died after receiving the treatment at a later stage of illness, the remaining patients are stable.

Meanwhile, one more child that was in contact with infected healthcare workers has signs of infection, bringing the total number of children infected to six.