April 30 (Bloomberg) -- China today reported the first SARS death worldwide since the World Health Organization declared the disease under control globally nine months ago.

The Health Ministry said the death of a woman in the southern province of Anhui on April 19 was caused by SARS, according to a statement. She had cared for her daughter, who spread the disease after catching it while working in a virology laboratory in Beijing. The daughter is recovering.

China's five confirmed and four suspected cases of severe acute respiratory syndrome form the largest cluster of the disease reported anywhere in the world since last year's epidemic. SARS infected 8,096 people between November 2002 and July 2003, causing 774 deaths.

The disease disrupted business travel and tourism in Asia last year, damaging the earnings of airlines, hotel companies and restaurants. China, Hong Kong, Taiwan, Canada and Singapore had the largest outbreaks of SARS.

There is no treatment for SARS that is proven to be effective and the disease killed about one of every 10 people infected during the epidemic. Laboratories in Asia, Europe and North American are developing vaccines against the virus.

This winter in China, four SARS cases of unidentified origin were reported in the southern province of Guangdong, where the disease probably first jumped to humans from animals in 2002. All the people infected have recovered. Singapore and Taiwan have both reported single laboratory-contracted cases.

Of the four living people confirmed to have been infected in the current outbreak, one is in Anhui and hasn't be feverish in a week, two are in Beijing in stable condition, and another in the Chinese capital is in critical condition.

The Health Ministry didn't give the condition of four other patients suspected to be infected, all of whom are hospitalized.

To contact the reporters on this story: Tian Ying in Beijing at ytian@bloomberg.net Josh Fellman at jfellman@bloomberg.net

Last Updated: April 30, 2004 07:13 EDT