Beijing will keep elementary and middle schools closed for an additional two weeks to help prevent the spread of SARS, the government said Sunday.

China also decided to let the World Health Organisation visit Taiwan in its fight against severe acute respiratory syndrome, putting aside politics after reports the island's number of SARS cases has doubled in a week.

China did not explain its decision regarding Taiwan. But it may have been part of its recent effort to appear more cooperative.

China earlier rejected direct WHO help for the island, a refusal that island said was threatening its efforts to fight the disease. At least 102 people have been diagnosed with SARS in Taiwan, including eight who have died.

Eighteen new deaths were reported Saturday in East Asia, pushing the global death toll to 436. Nine deaths were in mainland China and nine were in Hong Kong.

Announcing the decision to keep schools in Beijing closed, the official Xinhua News Agency said authorities planned to hold correspondence classes for the students using TV broadcasts and the Internet.

The schools, which were closed about two weeks ago, had been scheduled to reopen on May 7 providing the SARS outbreak was under control.

But on Saturday, the Health Ministry reported a total of 181 new cases on the mainland and nine new fatalities, pushing China's toll to 190. Five of the deaths were reported in Beijing, bringing the death toll in the capital to 96.

Nine other deaths were reported in Hong Kong, pushing the global death count to 436. Worldwide, more than 6,100 people have been infected by SARS.

Hong Kong's health chief acknowledged that officials "weren't speedy enough " in their response to the SARS outbreak, but said it was because little was known about the disease when it

first emerged. SARS has killed at least 179 people there.

Health Secretary Dr. Yeoh Eng-kiong's admission was the bluntest yet by a top Hong Kong official. The territory also reported 10 new cases - the lowest daily figure since March.

China and Taiwan split amid civil war in 1949, and the Beijing government claims the self-ruling island as its own territory. Protocol prohibited WHO teams from heading to Taiwan to see how SARS is spreading because the United Nations does not recognize Taiwan as an independent country.

Taiwan's Mainland Affairs Council, which handles relations with Beijing, had no immediate comment on China's reversal. Iain Simpson, a WHO spokesman in Geneva, said a doctor left for Taiwan on Friday.

The WHO has said outbreaks of SARS appear to have peaked in most places other than China, where the disease has sickened almost 4,000 people.