Beijing ? A top Chinese health official denied claims that Beijing tried to hide the seriousness of the SARS virus, saying Friday that the government warned about SARS as early as February but initial efforts to fight it were slowed by poor information.

In an encouraging sign, meanwhile, the World Health Organization said Friday it would remove Singapore from the list of countries affected by the SARS virus because the city-state had not reported a new case of SARS in 20 days.

Defending China’s reporting of the illness, Gao Qiang, the country’s executive deputy health minister, waved a copy of the Communist Party newspaper People’s Daily, which told about an atypical pneumonia Feb. 12 that had killed five people in Guangdong province and infected 305.

The symptoms — including fever, dry cough and chills — were similar to what now is known as severe acute respiratory syndrome, Gao said. The World Health Organization believes SARS originated in Guangdong.

“Infectious diseases are impossible to cover up,” Gao said. “You may be able to cover up figures, but you can never cover up viruses.”

Gao’s comments were the highest-level response yet to accusations that communist officials tried to hide the extent of the illness. Critics have complained that China’s early reluctance to release information might have worsened the effects of the disease.

A medical worker in a protective suit plays games with two young SARS patients at Beijing Ditan Hospital. Hospital employees sent gifts to SARS patients Friday, wishing them early recovery. The number of new cases reported in mainland China has declined sharply in the past week, raising hopes that the deadly disease is under control.

Gao repeated official explanations that an inadequate Chinese public health network was to blame for earlier underreporting of the true scale of China’s outbreak. “The Chinese government did not conceal the truth,” Gao said.

The SARS virus has killed at least 755 people worldwide out of more than 8,300 people infected, the vast majority of them in Asia. China has been the hardest hit, with 328 deaths. WHO said in mid-March that SARS was a global health threat.

But in Canada’s largest city, Toronto, health authorities reported another SARS death and 10 more cases Friday, bringing the city’s death toll from the virus to 30.

Toronto’s cluster of new cases emerged last week in a harsh blow to a health care system that appeared to have brought an initial SARS outbreak in March and April under control. Health officials have told more than 7,800 people to quarantine themselves because of possible exposure.

Taiwan reported its lowest daily number of new SARS cases in three weeks Friday.