Two people in China's Inner Mongolia region have died from the SARS virus, the first time the disease has been reported in the far-flung north, the official Xinhua news agency said.

A total of 10 cases were reported in the regional capital of Hohhot, Xinhua reported late on Friday, citing the city's health department.

Two of the 10 patients had recovered, it said. Among the infected, nine were from two families and one was a health care worker, the agency reported.

Chinese and World Health Organisation officials were not immediately available for comment.

China said on Friday that 58 people had died from SARS in six provinces around the country. About 1,300 people have been infected.

SARS is believed to have originated late last year in China's southern Guangdong province and then spread to nearby Hong Kong.

WHO officials said on Friday the epidemic was being contained elsewhere in the world but they were worried about China.

"There is one caveat and that is China. We do not know what is going on outside Guangdong," said David Heymann, WHO head of communicable diseases.

WHO doctors visited the southern province and had words of praise for local health officials but they feared the disease had spread.

"The question is what is the dynamic of the epidemic elsewhere in China. The surveillance systems in many of these provinces are not strong enough to pick up all of the cases," said Mike Ryan, WHO head of global alert and response coordination.

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