The toll from severe acute respiratory syndrome rose to at least 78 worldwide yesterday after China reported 12 more deaths on the mainland, including nine in the southern province of Guangdong, where the disease is believed to have originated.

China said it would allow a World Health Organization team to visit Guangdong, where the disease was first reported in November.

"This is a really unique opportunity for China to find out the origins of the disease, how it spread and how it can be controlled," said Dr Meirion Evans, of the WHO team. It will be in Guangdong from today to Tuesday.

The disease, which has sickened more than 1,800 worldwide.

The WHO advised travelers not to go to Hong Kong and Guangdong - the first time that such a warning has been issued in at least a decade, it said. The WHO took the action because at least nine foreign business-men have caught SARS in Hong Kong.

"People who are planning to travel to Hong Kong or Guangdong should consider postponing their travel," said WHO infectious diseases chief Dr David Heymann.

Hong Kong health experts said the WHO had overreacted. "I don't think it's necessary," said Dr Lam Shiu-kum, dean of the Medicine Faculty of the University of Hong Kong.

"The disease will not be spread if we maintain good hygiene and make everyone aware of it through good health education through channels including the airport," Lam said. "We have already got hold of the virus, developed a diagnostic test and know how to treat the illness."

Hong Kong's Chief Executive, Tung Chee-hwa, played down the WHO's decision as "a confirmation of what has happened" and said he was focusing on stopping the disease.

"Undoubtedly, the present condition is serious in Hong Kong," Tung said. "But there shouldn't be any cause for panic because our treatment has been very effective."

The WHO said SARS had shown up in three additional inland regions of China - Sichuan Province in the west, Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region in the southwest and Hunan Province in the south.

In addition to the nine new deaths reported in Guangdong, three deaths came from Guangxi. But the WHO said the 12 deaths were from February and March, suggesting they did not necessarily signify the outbreak was worsening.

After an executive meeting of the State Council yesterday, China's Cabinet con-cluded that the epidemic has been brought under control in the country, Xinhua said.

The meeting, which was presided over by Premier Wen Jiabao, agreed that top priority must be given to the prevention of the spread of the epidemic, timely reports on the issue should be handed over to the WHO, effective cooperation with the WHO should be maintained and a national emergency mechanism should be established.

In an interview with Xinhua, Health Minister Zhang Wenkang said yesterday that of the 1,190 SARS patients in the inland areas of China, 46 are dead, 934 have been discharged from hospitals fully recovered and another 210 remain hospitalized.

He said the origin of the disease has yet to be identified, adding that there has been no scientific evidence establishing Guangdong as the source though the province reported the first SARS cases.

The fact that HIV and AIDS cases were first reported in the United States does not mean that the fatal epidemic originated there, he noted.

He said effective measures have been taken to bring the epidemic under control and to ensure that foreign visitors in China will not be infected.