Beijing disinfects buildings, Sars toll up

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.