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Saturday, March 29, 2003
SARS shows no signs of abating in Asia (12:57 pm)
By Chris Lefkow
HONG KONG -- An outbreak of atypical pneumonia in Asia showed no signs of abating Friday as health officials reported dozens of new suspected cases in Hong Kong and Singapore doubled the number of people in quarantine.
The World Health Organization (WHO) said meanwhile that it has been promised "full, frank numbers" from China on the extent of the respiratory disease in the world's most populous nation, where the outbreak originated in November.
In Hong Kong, the Department of Health and Hospital Authority on Friday reported an additional 58 suspected cases of atypical pneumonia, also known as Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome (SARS).
It was the largest single-day increase in the number of suspected cases in Hong Kong since the first case was detected early this month and took the total number of suspected victims of the disease here to 425.
The previous largest single-day increase here in the number of SARS cases was on Thursday, when the health authorities reported 51 suspected new cases. Eleven people have died of the disease in the former British colony.
Among the new suspected cases here was Dr. Fung Hung, chief executive of Hong Kong's Prince of Wales hospital. Last week, the chief executive of the Hospital Authority, Dr. William Ho, was hospitalized with the illness.
The Hong Kong Government invoked drastic measures on Thursday in a bid to prevent a further spread of the disease, ordering all schools to close from Saturday until April 6 and quarantine for persons who have come into contact with SARS victims.
Singapore, which decided to close its schools earlier in the week and to enforce a precautionary quarantine, reported Friday that the number of people under home quarantine had nearly doubled to 1,514.
Two people have died of SARS in Singapore and 86 have been hospitalized for the disease including 12 in serious condition.
In Beijing, WHO officials warned Friday that more SARS cases may emerge in China, despite claims by the Chinese authorities that the outbreak has been "effectively controlled."
"To say it is controlled means that there will be no new cases. At this point it is too early to say that it is controlled anywhere," said Meirion Evans, a member of a WHO team of experts visiting China.
"At this stage, from what we know from the international situation, we might expect more cases (in China)," said John Mackenzie, the WHO team leader.
"China has agreed to provide up to date reports on SARS throughout China..., and they will be full, frank numbers on a regular basis," Mackenzie added.
China has taken a beating in the international and regional media for not promptly reporting the disease, which was only acknowledged by Beijing in February, when the government said five people had died and 305 people were suffering from atypical pneumonia in southern Guangdong province.
In a shocking second report on Wednesday, the Chinese authorities said the number of cases had risen to 792 with 31 deaths in Guangdong as of March 1. Three more deaths have since been reported in Beijing.
As health authorities battled to prevent SARS from spreading, WHO experts said Friday that vital headway has been made in the fight against the disease but a cure remains frustratingly distant.
"There has been remarkably fast progress in identifying what is very likely to be the cause of the disease, and that's really been done in something like eight days," said Dick Thompson, the spokesman for communicable diseases for the Geneva-based WHO.
"And a diagnostic tool to detect it is also being developed, and that'll help us in lots of ways," he said.
The chief suspect is a coronavirus, a cousin of the virus that can cause the common cold as well as coughing, sneezing and pneumonia.
As laboratories around the world frantically pursued their research efforts, the economic impact of the disease continued to be felt in Asia with tourists shunning the region and a number of events being cancelled.
Share prices of Singapore Airlines, Hong Kong's Cathay Pacific and Australia's Qantas, three of Asia's top carriers, took a hit Friday.
Although the WHO has stopped short of calling for travel restrictions, US health authorities on Friday warned Americans to avoid travel to China, Hong Kong, Singapore and Vietnam because of the risk of contracting atypical pneumonia. Fifty-nine suspected cases of SARS have been reported in the United States.
The Atlanta, Georgia-based Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) said Americans planning non-essential travel to those destinations "may wish to postpone their trips until further notice." AFP
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