New SARS deaths in China

news.com.au By Mark McCord 06Apr03

THE high-profile death of an International Labour Organisation (ILO) official and the announcement of more cases of SARS in the Chinese capital put Beijing in the spotlight again as the race moved on to find a cure for the killer disease.

As the first suspected case of Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome (SARS) was detected in Kuwait, World Health Organisation (WHO) experts continued to search for the cause of the mystery illness in the epidemic's epicentre, southern China.

The death of the ILO's Pekka Aro from SARS was announced at a Chinese Health Ministry news conference in Beijing. He was the highest profile casualty of the outbreak since WHO expert Carlo Urbani -- who first identified the disease - died in Bangkok last month.

Finnish official Aro was among 19 new cases announced in the capital, bringing the number of deaths in Beijing to four.

At least 51 deaths from SARS have been reported in China and 1,247 people have been infected, according to official figures released today.

WHO experts continued their probe into the killer pneumonia as China went into damage control mode to repair an image badly tarnished by its foot-dragging in handling the outbreak.

WHO investigators held meetings with Chinese health and disease control officials today, their fourth day in Guangdong province, where the virus has killed more people than anywhere else.

In an effort to staunch criticism of China's handling of the outbreak, state-run media carried reports by the WHO praising China for its handling of the crisis the authorities put a gag on Internet jokers mentioning SARS online.

In Hong Kong, hopes that the rate of infection has slowed were dashed as the city woke up to news that another three people had died today and 39 more infections had been detected.

Despite assurances from health authorities and Chief Executive Tung Chee-hwa that the rate of infection had stabilised, the sudden surge in detections and deaths Saturday raised the death toll to 20 and the number of infections to 800.

Citizens and organisations, already taking no chances by wearing surgical masks and shunning public places, stepped up precautionary measures today.

Among them, the Roman Catholic diocese removed basins of holy water from its churches and ordered clergy to wear masks and gloves.

Worshippers were told not to attend mass if they were ill and were urged not to hold hands during prayers. The measures will remain in place during Easter, which falls on April 20 this year.

Panic set in throughout much of the rest of Asia, as governments continued to urge citizens to stay away from infected areas, and in the rest of the world as the virus reached newer shores.

With the disease taken hold in Singapore, where six people have died and 103 cases have been confirmed, Prime Minister Goh Chok Tong set up a cabinet-level task force to help beef up the city-state's defences.

It was also suggested that the government take the opportunity provided by the siege under which the virus has the city to test Singapore's much-vaunted bio-terrorism security shelters.

In Malaysia, acting Prime Minister Abdullah Ahmad Badawi called for calm after the country's first probable death from SARS was announced overnight.

Australia, taking no chances after four children who recently arrived in the country were identified as suspected carriers, SARS has been categorised as quarantinable, allowing authorities to detain anybody entering the country with suspected symptoms.

On the other side of the Pacific, an eighth person died in Canada's Ontario province and a ninth was suspected. Canada remains the worst-hit country outside Asia with 187 infections. More than 3,500 people are in voluntary quarantine in Ontario.

Kuwait brought the tally of potentially affected countries to as many as 31 when it announced its first suspected case. An expatriate woman who returned to Kuwait from southeast Asia is being tested.

The SARS fallout continued to batter the world's tourism industry.

In Taipei, travel agents appealed for government assistance to ease the worst crisis in 30 years, and Australian analysts said the virus scare would dash hopes of an Asian-sourced resuscitation of the nation's flagging tourism industry.

This report appears on news.com.au.