Beijing Begins Drastic SARS Quarantine - Thousands Flee...........

Beijing Begins Drastic SARS

Quarantine - Thousands

Flee 4-24-3

(AFP) -- Amid scenes of panic in Beijing, China began implementing drastic quarantine measures to contain SARS after the World Health Organisation warned against travel to the Chinese capital, Shanxi province and the Canadian city of Toronto.

After covering up the outbreak of Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome for months, China's state-run media issued a rallying call to the nation against what it called

"a savage attack against mankind".

The U-turn came as the global death toll from SARS inched higher to 253 with new fatalities in Singapore and Canada, and the World Bank warned of the growing damage being inflicted on Asia's economy.

The WHO Wednesday added the three new SARS blackspots to an earlier advisory on Hong Kong and the southern Chinese province of Guangdong, sparking an angry reaction from Toronto and mounting anxiety in Beijing.

besieged supermarkets in the Chinese capital, which has reported 35 SARS deaths and nearly 1,500 confirmed or suspected cases, and the airport and train stations were packed with people fleeing the city.

The Beijing government meanwhile said anybody suspected of having SARS and any area where the virus had been found would be isolated. Anybody who violated the order would be

"severely punished".

The first victims of the measure were the city's prisons where employees have been banned from leaving and family visits have been stopped. China's national library was also shut for two weeks.

The semi-rural northern province of Shanxi has reported 157 cases and seven deaths from the virus, and there are fears the area's more basic medical facilities will be overwhelmed.

In Toronto, government officials reacted with fury to the WHO's travel advisory and demanded the UN body immediately send a team to investigate the city, where most of the 16 deaths and 330 SARS cases in Canada have been recorded.

"I'm shocked that the medical evidence before us does not support this advisory,"

said Toronto's Mayor Mel Lastman, calling the WHO move a

"gross misrepresentation".

There is no cure or vaccine for the virus which first emerged in Guangdong in November before spreading to neighbouring Hong Kong, and then onto some 25 countries around the world infecting over 4,300 people.

As travel and trade around the world are increasingly disrupted by the epidemic, financial analysts have begun issuing dire warnings about the economic impact.

Citing SARS and the Iraq war, the World Bank said Thursday it was cutting its East Asia economic growth forecast to 5.0 percent from 5.8 percent. Fitch Ratings said it downgraded its outlook for the foreign and local currency rating of Hong Kong.

The travel and tourism industry has borne the brunt of the economic pain from SARS as demand for travel to much of Asia has collapsed, and representatives of the world's airlines were locked in talks Thursday in Bangkok in an attempt to coordinate a strategy.

Hong Kong-based carriers Cathay Pacific and Dragonair have been hit particularly hard, with Cathay axing 45 percent of all flights amid reports it is losing three million dollars per day.

Hong Kong is the worst-hit city in the world, with 105 deaths and over 1,450 confirmed cases of SARS.

As well as Hong Kong, deaths have been reported in

China (106),

Canada (16),

Singapore (15),

Vietnam (5),

Philippines (2),

alaysia (2)

and Thailand (2).

In Singapore, which has reported over 180 cases and quarantined thousands of people, Deputy Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong warned of

"catastrophic"

consequences if the outbreak was not brought under control.

Taiwan,

which has 38 suspected cases, meanwhile ordered the emergency closure of a hospital in the capital Taipei after five staff and two patients were believed to have contracted the illness.

In a truly global battle to contain SARS, scientists have so far identified the coronavirus -- the family which causes the common cold -- as the cause.

However,

while a testing kit for the illness which begins with flu-like symptoms is nearly ready, experts have warned neither a cure nor a vaccine is imminent.



Gloves, Masks, Gown Don't

Stop SARS At Hospital Virus Hits

'Protected' Toronto Medical Staff



By David Rider CanWest News Service

4-24-3

Unlike the first cases of Sars in the territory, recent ones appear to be less responsive to treatment.

Recent cases of Sars in Hong Kong were more serious and less responsive to treatment than those who first came down with the illness, stumping health officials, who also reported 12 deaths yesterday in the territory's highest one-day jump.

Health authorities also revealed yesterday that a Cathay Pacific steward had been confirmed with Sars and that efforts were being made to contact the 220 passengers on CX714 from Singapore to Hongkong last Tuesday. O With 31 new cases yesterday, Hong Kong now has 1,358 cases of severe acute respiratory syndrome (Sars).

Dr Yu Wai Cho, a consultant with the Princess Margaret Hospital, told reporters:

'Recent cases, not just from Amoy Gardens, but also from other areas such as Kwun Tong, are more seriously afflicted and respond less well to treatment.'

Health officials are stumped and are investigating this development. But they did not rule out the viral load, mutation of the Sars virus, or the existence of an additional virus. And with fatalities rising in recent weeks, health officials are hard pressed to explain the treatment protocol they have adopted.

Dr Yu said Sars treatment here, comprising the anti-viral drug Ribavirin and steroids, was at a mature stage. Generally, 95 per cent of patients respond to this cocktail.

The recovery rate for patients who sought treatment within five days of contracting Sars was very high, he said.

Dr Loretta Yam of the Pamela Youde Eastern Hospital, who visited Guangzhou last week to exchange information on Sars with Guangdong officials, said mainland doctors were also using Ribavirin and steroids.

Health Secretary Yeoh Eng Kiong said: 'My last phone call with the Ministry of Health in Singapore told me that they were, in fact, using very similar treatment as we are. So, this is the global experience.' MORTALITY RATE InAs doctors grapple with new Sars remedies, Hong Kong is looking at solving a number of long standing problems that might affect hygiene, including littering and building density.

Home Affairs Secretary Patrick Ho, who walked past cockroach-infested sites, clogged drains and heaps of rubbish in backlanes during a clean-up blitz yesterday, said: 'I feel ashamed at how dirty Hong Kong is.

Conditions are terrible!'

He was one of several ministers, led by Chief Executive Tung Chee Hwa, taking part in the two-day clean-up of environmental black spots that began yesterday.

The officials, assigned to different locations territory-wide, took up brooms, mops and brushes, and handed out bottles of bleach and hygiene kits to residents.

Community leader Rosanna Wong, who led 6,000 volunteers in the exercise, said:

'We want to show the world that we are determined to make Hong Kong clean.'

Apart from luring visitors back to a more hygienic territory, the high-profile campaign also aims to boost local consumption, which has taken a battering in the Sars scare.

Chief Secretary Donald Tsang had a cup of coffee in a cafe in Lan Kwai Fong, while Treasury Secretary Frederick Ma bought some food at a street stall.

Housing Secretary Michael Suen said that after the experience at Amoy Gardens which has over 320 Sars cases, building regulations would be reviewed to ensure that flats are built further apart.

http://straitstimes.asia1.com.sg/singapore/story/0,4386,184245,00.html

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