Canada reports fourth death from SARS
There has been a fourth death in Canada from Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome, medical authorities told reporters on Sunday. Dr. Colin D'Cuhna, the Ontario public health commissioner, said the unidentified victim had died at York Central Hospital in Richmond Hill on Friday night. The patient had earlier been treated at Toronto's Scarborough Grace Hospital, which has been the center of the province's SARS outbreak, D'Cuhna said. Canada's previous three SARS deaths were also in the Toronto area, Canadian Broadcasting Corp. said. Four Canadian provinces have reported about 100 confirmed or suspected SARS cases: Ontario (in the Toronto area), British Columbia, Manitoba (Winnipeg) and now in New Brunswick. Dr. Wayne MacDonald, New Brunswick's chief medical health officer, told reporters Sunday that a teacher in Miramichi had developed symptoms of SARS before returning from a trip to China last Monday. He said the teacher had voluntarily quarantined herself until all symptoms disappear, but 60 people she was in contact with are being monitored. CBC also said that health officials are monitoring three more suspected cases of the illness in British Columbia, in addition to a dozen previously reported cases. There's only been one confirmed case in the province, but about 10,000 residents of British Columbia travel each month to and from high-risk areas in Asia. The province has a large number of immigrants from East Asia. The network also said that Ontario authorities have asked anyone who recently visited Scarborough Grace Hospital or York Central Hospital, both in greater Toronto, to stay home for a 10-day period. It said Toronto police have joined private security guards in keeping non-essential visitors from visiting the two area hospitals affected by the quarantine. Separately, media reports in Asia detailed the spread of the syndrome in the region. Among the developments reported: -- Taiwan might limit contacts with China to try to control the spread of SARS, with a decision possible Monday, the British Broadcasting Corp. said. Taiwan-China transport links generally go through a third nation. Taiwan has declared SARS an "infectious disease" subject to quarantine and banned visits by civil servants to affected areas, including China, Hong Kong and Vietnam. Taiwan's Center for Disease Control put the number of local probable cases at 12, most of them reporting the illness after trips to China and Hong Kong. But several hundred other people are on a so-called "home confinement list." -- In Hong Kong, the Standard newspaper reports 13 people had died of SARS in the Special Administrative Region as of Saturday: the latest victim was a 74-year-old woman. At one residential complex -- Amoy Gardens -- 121 people have so far been reported ill with SARS. The total number of those infected with SARS has passed 500, according to the Standard, with 60 new cases identified Saturday alone -- including six medical staff. The Standard also reported that the South Korean consulate-general's office had warned its nationals to leave Hong Kong. The warning reportedly appeared in a weekly newsletter to the approximately 16,000 South Korean residents of the SAR. -- Singapore Health Minister Lim Hng Kiang said his nation probably faced a longer-term situation with SARS than previously expected. He told reporters in Singapore on Sunday that the disease appeared to have a sub-set of cases involving what he termed "super-infectors." These were victims who were much more infectious than others and therefore affected many others. He said that there had been only one such case in Singapore, but he added: "I don't want Singaporeans to be lulled into complacency. Because the problem is not going to stop next week or two weeks." -- Thailand will detain arrivals who are suspected of carrying SARS for 24 hours, the health minister said. ChannelNews Asia quotes Sudarat Keyuraphan as saying that the measure wasn't based on the specific situation in Thailand but on the worsening regional situation. Thailand had its first SARS death this weekend when Dr. Carlo Urbani, the World Health Organization doctor who first alerted colleagues to SARS, died of the illness in Bangkok. -- Malaysia's Health Ministry sent a fact-finding team to Singapore to collect information on the treatment and prevention of SARS. Health Minister Datuk Chua Jui Meng said one team member was Dr. Chua Kaw Bing, one of those who identified the Nipah virus that caused an outbreak in Malaysia's pig population in 1998-99. The Star newspaper said that Malaysia had stationed medical personnel at the Causeway -- a major route that connects Malaysia and Singapore -- and distributed health cards to entering travelers. It said that patients were being isolated if they were suspected of having SARS, but it didn't give any details on how such cases there might be. There have been about 1,550 reported cases of SARS worldwide, with 54 deaths in 15 countries.