  A general method for proving continuity of the von Neumann entropy on subsets
of positive trace-class operators is considered. This makes it possible to
re-derive the known conditions for continuity of the entropy in more general
forms and to obtain several new conditions. The method is based on a particular
approximation of the von Neumann entropy by an increasing sequence of concave
continuous unitary invariant functions defined using decompositions into finite
rank operators. The existence of this approximation is a corollary of a general
property of the set of quantum states as a convex topological space called the
strong stability property. This is considered in the first part of the paper.
