India Sees Progress Against Plague

PLAGUE fears receded in India yesterday as the nationwide death toll held steady and hospitals let more than 200 patients leave quarantine wards.

No deaths were reported over the past 24 hours and fewer people with symptoms were showing up at hospitals.

The nationwide death toll was unchanged at 51. Reassured by the trend, Delhi reversed an emergency decision and ordered all schools to reopen today. In Surat, more patients were discharged than were admitted, marking a reversal of a two-week trend. Foreign countries, some of which had severed all transport and trade links, remained on guard. The government sent two senior officials to Bahrain to spearhead a compaign to lift those controls.

UN official to visit Baghdad

ROLF EKEUS, a United Nations weapons official, headed to Iraq yesterday for talks on a long-term monitoring program of the country's weapons industry before in advance of reporting to the UN Security Council by mid-October.

Mr. Ekeus appeared unlikely to declare an official start of long-term monitoring or set a test-period to make sure that the system works. He has said his commission will need to conduct long-term monitoring of Iraq before he can certify to the Council that Baghdad has complied on the weapons destruction, a prerequisite to lifting the UN oil embargo.