Taipei, Taiwan ? The worldwide death toll from the SARS virus surpassed 700 Sunday after Taiwan reported 12 new deaths and China reported seven. Still, Taiwan angrily refused rival China’s offers of help and scolded Beijing for blocking the island’s efforts to join the World Health Organization.

“If the Chinese authorities are really concerned about Taiwanese … they should no longer interfere with Taiwan’s attempts to participate in the WHO or other international organizations,” Taiwan’s Mainland Affairs Council said, adding that China should keep its medicine to focus on its own SARS outbreak.

China stepped up its own public health campaign, handing out “spit bags” to people in Beijing who couldn’t resist the habit of spitting in streets and on sidewalks.

The 12 new deaths in Taiwan, along with seven in China and four in Hong Kong, brought the worldwide death toll to at least 715. More than 8,100 people have been infected by severe acute respiratory syndrome.

The largest outbreak outside of Asia was in Canada, which officials thought had eradicated SARS. On Sunday, officials said that of 34 suspected cases that emerged last week, eight were probably SARS.

Dr. Colin D’Cunha, chief medical officer of health for Ontario province, said two of those eight patients had died. Another SARS patient dating back weeks also died early Sunday, raising the death toll of the respiratory disease in the Toronto area to 27.

The new cluster in Canada prompted U.S. health officials to issue a new travel alert for Toronto, but Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist, R-Tenn, said Canada appeared to be taking the right steps.

“I think when you couple these emerging infections … you realize how important it is for us as a nation, and an international community, to be prepared,” Frist said on Fox News Sunday. “Canada right now does have a problem, but they’re acting very quickly to contain it.”