Two more die in Singapore from SARS

Reuters Health Last Updated: 2003-04-07 13:00:26 -0400 (Reuters Health) By Jason Szep

SINGAPORE (Reuters) - Two more people died of atypical pneumonia on Monday, Singapore said, as Prime Minister Goh Chok Tong canceled a trip to SARS-hit China and the deadly virus spread to a fifth Singapore hospital.

Days after showing some success in subduing the virus that has killed 100 people worldwide and infected more than 2,600, Singapore said six more nurses had been struck by the illness at three different hospitals.

The infections bring Singapore's total confirmed SARS cases to 112 -- the world's fourth-highest -- and raise concerns over how quickly the disease is spreading despite aggressive attempts to stop it.

As the country counted its eighth death from the disease, Prime Minister Goh Chok Tong told Singaporeans to learn to live with the virus, because it would not disappear soon.

"What we are saying is this is not the end of the world, there's life. With terrorism, with the Iraqi war, with SARS, we are going to live as near normal a life as possible," he said.

The illness has dire consequences for Singapore's US$88 billion economy, which barely escaped a second recession in as many years last year and was already hammered as exports fall during the war in Iraq.

Orchard Road, a main shopping district, is quieter than usual and taxi drivers complain of dwindling fares as residents stay home. An industry body said some retailers reported sales down as much as 75 percent last weekend.

Goh said the government would revise down its forecast of 2 to 5 percent economic growth this year, citing the blow from SARS. Economists have already done that, slashing forecasts for growth by one percentage point, on average, according to a Reuters poll.

"It is really across the board," said Jannie Tay, president of the Singapore Retailers Association, referring to the effect of the disease on retailers.

ISOLATION POLICY HIT

Singapore's SARS infection rate had slowed dramatically last week. Just five new cases of the disease were confirmed over the weekend, and only one on Friday.

But new infections on Monday stoked fears of a possible crack in its strategy to contain the illness.

Singapore had contained SARS to one hospital, Tan Tock, until last week when it reached National University Hospital and then on Saturday hit KK, a women's hospital.

On Sunday a doctor at Singapore General, the nation's biggest hospital, came down with it, and on Monday SARS reached another center, Changi General Hospital, with two new cases.

Headlines of a confirmed SARS case at Singapore General, the nation's busiest hospital, triggered a wave of panicked callers. Phone lines at the hospital went down briefly as they swamped the switchboard, asking if it was safe. Visitors to the hospital had their temperature taken before they were allowed in.

More than a dozen nurses at the hospital have developed a fever -- a key symptom of the illness. Around 80 patients and 91 staff were transferred in ambulances to Tan Tock.

The disease also took a diplomatic toll as Goh canceled a visit to China to meet the country's new leadership, citing the outbreak of SARS, which has killed at least 53 people on the mainland, where it is thought to have originated in November.