TOKYO, April 24 (Reuters) - Top Japanese carmaker Toyota Motor Corp plans to withdraw most of its Japanese staff and their families from Beijing due to fears about the spread of the SARS virus in China, Kyodo news agency said on Thursday.
Toyota will keep one executive in Beijing after the pullout, expected as early as Thursday, Kyodo quoted sources familiar with the matter as saying, adding that the firm had more than 20 Japanese employees with around 80 family members in Beijing.
Toyota's decision, the first by a major Japanese firm, may prompt other Japanese companies to pull out employees from Beijing, Kyodo said.
A Toyota spokeswoman said: "We haven't yet given instructions (to employees) to return to Japan," adding that the company was considering what to do.
She added that some family members of Japanese employees in China had returned to Japan.
Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome (SARS), a flu-like virus, has killed at least 251 people worldwide and infected 4,200 since it appeared in Guangdong in southern China late last year.
Beijing, a city of 14 million people, has reported almost 700 SARS cases and 35 deaths.
The World Health Organization on Wednesday warned against travelling to Beijing, China's Shanxi province and Toronto to help curb the spread of the SARS.