A woman who died last week was suffering from the Sars virus, China's health ministry has confirmed. The death is said to be the first attributed to Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome in the world this year. The 53-year-old woman from the eastern province of Anhui was the mother of a Beijing laboratory employee who contracted the virus on the job. The announcement raised China's number of confirmed Sars cases to five, with four of those patients in hospital. **PHOTO CAPTION*** China's health ministry says a suspected SARS patient who died on April 19 in Anhui province had been suffering from the disease. (AFP)