News.com.au April 07, 2003

A 78-year-old woman has died of a mystery flu-like disease in Hong Kong, becoming the 100th victim worldwide, officials said. The woman died last night and brought Hong Kong's death toll to 23, the Health Department said in a statement.

Hong Kong counted another 41 cases of severe acute respiratory syndrome, or SARS, as of late today, bringing its total to 883.

Officials said 127 of the patients had recovered and were discharged from hospitals, while the majority of those still in the hospital are responding favourably to treatment.

Other deaths have occurred in mainland China, Canada, Singapore, Vietnam, Thailand and Malaysia.

<a href=www.upi.com>UPI From the Business & Economics Desk Published 4/7/2003 6:59 AM

SINGAPORE, April 7 (UPI) -- Asian stocks markets powered ahead Monday on news U.S. tanks had stormed into central Baghdad, with investors speculating the war in Iraq could quickly end.

Investors seem to forget for a day concerns about the on-going spread of the severe acute respiratory syndrome and its economic impact on the region.

In Tokyo, the Nikkei average rose 2.18 percent to 8,249.98, led by a few blue chips like Sharp Corp, up 4.16 percent.

Opening the earnings reporting season for the 2002-03 business year, Aeon Co rose 2.81 percent after it announced a return to profit due to strong clothing sales.

Shares in Yakult Honsha also jumped 10.27 percent on speculation that French food group Danone, which has raised its stake in the Japanese drink maker, may seek business ties or an even bigger share. There was also some rumor that a sweet milk-like drink produced by Yakult has a preventative effect against the severe acute respiratory syndrome.

In Hong Kong, the Hang Seng Index jumped 1.58 percent to 8,962.21 points led by property and telecom stocks. China Mobile rose 4.14 percent, rival China Unicom was up 3.43 percent, while bargain hunting on property counters lifted Cheung Kong, 2.49 percent and Henderson Land Development, up 2.93 percent.

In Taipei, the TAIEX share index rose 1.70 percent at 4,575.83, led by technology stocks such as Nanya Tech, up 7 percent and rival Winbond Electronics up 4.64 percent. TSMC gained 2.21 percent.

In Singapore, the key Straits Times index rose 1.91 percent to end at 1,338.83, a 10-week high. Blue chips like Singapore Airlines, up 2.16 percent, benefited from hopes of a swift end to war. Property counters also rose on bargain-hunting after recent sharp losses. City Developments gained 3.87 percent and Keppel Land surged 5 percent.

The Kuala Lumpur Composite Index added 1.5 percent to 640.35, a fresh one-month high, with casino-and-leisure group Genting leading the pack, up 4.8 percent. The stock had been under heavy selling pressure on concern about the impact of SARS and the war in Iraq will have on its business.

In Jakarta, the main index rose 4.47 percent to 423.814.

The Thai and Philippines markets were closed for national holiday.

Stuff 08 April 2003

BEIJING: Beijing sealed off and disinfected a building in a diplomatic compound yesterday because a Finnish labour official had visited it before he died from the deadly flu-like Sars virus.

People stood outside wearing masks while the Tayuan office complex, which houses foreign embassies and organisations, was disinfected, building administrators and witnesses said.

Pekka Aro, 53, a Geneva-based official of the International Labour Organisation (ILO), had been to the building before he died from Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome at a Beijing hospital on Sunday.

Aro, visiting from Geneva, was the first foreigner to succumb to the disease in mainland China.

ILO's Beijing office nearby was disinfected last week, an ILO official said.

The mystery disease, which first surfaced in China's southern province of Guangdong in November, had killed 53 people and infected 1268 in the world's most populous nation by Sunday, state television said.

China Central Television quoted the Health Ministry, now issuing figures daily, as saying the number of deaths had risen by two in the 24 hours to Sunday and infections were up by 21.

Guangdong has recorded 43 deaths and 1203 infections.

China has come under fire for a lack of transparency over the disease, which has spread worldwide killing 95 and infecting almost 2600. SARS has a mortality rate of about 4 per cent.

The official Xinhua news agency played down the impact of the disease. It quoted Zhong Nanshan, head of a respiratory diseases institute in Guangdong's capital, as saying he believed the province would report fewer SARS cases in April than in March.

Xinhua quoted Premier Wen Jiabao on Sunday as declaring the country safe to visit. The World Health Organisation and a number of countries have issued travel warnings for Guangdong and Hong Kong.

Chinese health officials say the disease has been brought under "effective control" and state-controlled newspapers published pictures of foreign tourists at scenic spots in an apparent effort to dispel worries.

Xinhua quoted organisers saying a two-week China Export Commodities Fair would begin as scheduled in Guangdong next week.

A group of Kenyan runners pulled out of the Beijing women's marathon, the Rolling Stones postponed their first ever concerts in China and several business events have been scrapped.

CNN Willy Wo-Lap Lam, CNN Senior China Analyst Monday, April 7, 2003 Posted: 5:11 AM EDT (0911 GMT)

Experts say there was a major setback in the struggle to contain a potentially deadly virus spreading worldwide.

WHO experts search for clues in the place the first SARS cases were reported.

HONG KONG, China (CNN) -- Beijing has pulled out all the stops to assure foreign businessmen and tourists that it is safe to visit China despite the outbreak of Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome (SARS).

Communist party sources in Beijing said the new leadership under President Hu Jintao and Premier Wen Jiabao had urged central and regional officials to issue words of reassurance to the international community.

Despite its upbeat stance, however, China's Ministry of Health announced Monday that the death toll from the virus had risen to 53, with 1,268 people infected.

It was also revealed that people had died of the mysterious illness in more of its provinces than previously reported, according to Reuters.

Party sources said the pneumonia crisis, along with the war in Iraq, could threaten a 7 percent growth rate the government pledged earlier this year.

A number of international conferences scheduled to be held in Beijing, Shanghai and other major cities have been canceled or postponed, and tourism bookings have also been reduced.

The government is trying to persuade other nations, including the United States, to stop issuing advisories asking nationals to avoid visiting China because of the SARS epidemic, the sources said.

Most official papers on Monday covered a high-profile visit by Premier Wen to the China Disease Control Center.

Wen said the disease was "under effective control" in China, and that the great majority of provinces and cities had no SARS cases at all.

"The Chinese government and people enthusiastically welcome friends from around the world to come to China for tourism, visits and business activities," the premier said, adding that all measures would be taken to safeguards their health and safety.

CCTV on Monday carried an interview with a senior official in Guangdong, who emphasized that foreign businessmen going to the province had encountered no health problems.

The provincial capital, Guangzhou, is due to open its annual Guangzhou Trade Fair soon, and local cadres are worried about a drop in attendance.

The Guangdong press has reported that central government units will be in charge of anti-epidemic and other health-related work related to the fair.

The official media have also run relatively upbeat assessments by five World Health Organization experts who are currently visiting Guangdong, deemed the "source" of the epidemic.

The official Xinhua news agency quoted head of the expert team, Dr Robert Breiman as saying "the data we've got during the three days of staying here is much more than we expected."

Brieman was also quoted as indicating that the hospitals they had visited in Guangdong had "done a remarkable job and they follow the procedures and techniques that are used by Asian countries to control the virus."

Meanwhile, Chinese officials have been stressing that a number of SARS patients undergoing treatment in China had contracted the disease outside China.

In a press conference held on Sunday, Beijing officials said International Labor Organization expert Pekka Aro, who died in the capital, had contracted SARS before he entered China on March 23.

Aro was in Thailand for six days before his China trip.

RELATED • Frequently Asked Questions: SARS  • Gallery: Mystery virus spreads  • Country breakdown: Suspected cases of SARS  • Special report: SARS: Mystery illness on the move  • Centers for Disease Control  • World Health Organization 

QUICKVOTE Would the warning from the World Health Organization make you change your travel plans to Hong Kong or China? Yes No

simcoe.com Frank Matys: Orillia Today Apr. 1, 2003

Heightened efforts to control the spread of a potentially-deadly illness could include more extreme measures at Canada's airports, but not before Ottawa gets the nod from medical experts.

Though steps have been taken to monitor travelers arriving from Hong Kong and other regions associated with Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome (SARS), the federal government is stopping short of calling for a general quarantine of all passengers.

"It appears that somebody more or less has to come up and cough in your face to give it," said Simcoe North MP Paul DeVillers. "So we shouldn't be too panicked about it. But we have to be careful."

As the number of reported cases continues to rise in Canada and elsewhere, Ottawa is looking to both the World Health Organization and the U.S.-based Centres for Disease Control for direction, added DeVillers.

As of Sunday, Health Canada had received reports of approximately 98 probable or suspect cases of SARS in Ontario, British Columbia, Alberta and New Brunswick.

All have occurred in persons who traveled to Asia, or had contact with SARS cases in the household or in a hospital. Four have died. Anyone who visited Scarborough Grace Hospital from March 16-26, or York Central from March 16-28, is asked to voluntarily go into quarantine or call 721-7520.

Presently, the government is advising Canadians against traveling to Asia.

A recommendation by the World Health Organization to screen passengers is being considered by Ottawa, while airlines operating international flights in and out of Canada continue to carry out long-standing procedures to prevent ill passengers from getting on airplanes.

Yet, not until officials within the medical community demonstrate a need for tighter controls would Ottawa be willing to entertain a call to quarantine passengers arriving from southeast Asia.

"We should leave that to the experts," added DeVillers.

"We don't need to have people in a panic mode. On the other hand, if the experts say we need to take these restrictive measures, certainly, we should be there to respond."

Doctors suspect SARS is a respiratory illness passed by spray from a cough or sneeze by an infected person.

Even as the province tightens its grip on hospitals, Simcoe North MPP Garfield Dunlop is suggesting DeVillers' government may soon be forced to take a hard-line stance.

"It is a difficult decision," he said. "It is one of these issues of, where do you draw the line? But there is some merit in that. I'm assuming we will have to look at that type of quarantine position in the future, but we will have to take our lead from the medical officers of health."

Already strapped for space, hospital officials have halted some medical procedures, while temporarily relocating one of two dialysis units to make way for a nine-bed isolation room.

"We know this will inconvenience our patients, but we have no choice," said Varouj Eskedjian, assistant executive director of corporate services.

"Every day, as it is, we have a dozen or more patients waiting for beds in our emergency room. Cancelling some surgeries to try to free-up beds is the only way for us to create the space."

Spokesperson Sharon Burkhart again stressed that the local facility has not had any cases of SARS to date, but will continue to restrict visitations to parents of children staying there, and visitors of critically-ill patients. "We have had to turn people away."

All elective surgeries, most elective clinics and certain diagnostic-imaging tests have been cancelled until Friday. Urgent outpatient services will continue, including dialysis, chemotherapy services and the emergency services of the Regional Sexual and Domestic Assault Program.

Medically-necessary visits will continue at the Diabetes Education Centre, but elective education clinics are cancelled. Some staff are being reassigned to assist with duties normally performed by volunteers. As well, unscheduled walk-in patients won't be accepted in the hospital laboratory.

At Casino Rama, the destination of choice for a large number of Toronto players, spokesperson Jenna Hunter has fielded calls from concerned patrons, tour-bus operators and vendors wanting to know if the situation in the GTA is prompting concern locally.

"We are in no immediate danger," she said. "We have been in contact with the proper medical authorities and we have had no suspect or probable cases."

Employees with questions are being directed to the casino's health and safety staff. "We would never do anything that would put (staff or customers) at risk," she said. "There are plans in place if the situation changes. We have contingency plans in place." The casino sold out two weekend shows.