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Wednesday, April 30, 2003
Toronto Sars travel advisory lifted, Beijing situation ‘severe’ (2nd update, 1:43 pm)
HONG KONG -- Canada notched up a victory in the fight against Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome (Sars) with the lifting Wednesday of a travel advisory on Toronto but the battle appeared far from won in China, where the situation remains alarming.
The World Health Organization (WHO) lifted the warning against non-essential travel to Toronto from Wednesday after the city went for 20 days without any locally transmitted cases of Sars.
WHO advisories on non-essential travel to Hong Kong, Beijing and the Chinese provinces of Guangdong and Shanxi remain in place, however.
Canada is the only country outside Asia to report deaths from SARS, an atypical pneumonia, which has killed more than 350 people around the world and infected some 5,400 others. There have been 21 SARS-linked deaths in Canada and there are some 346 probable and suspect SARS cases nationwide.
As Canadian officials welcomed the lifting of the travel advisory, which they strongly opposed, Beijing's acting mayor warned Wednesday that the Sars situation in the Chinese capital was "severe" and a shortage of hospital beds was preventing patients getting timely treatment.
"At the present time the situation in Beijing remains severe for Sars prevention and treatment," said Wang Qishan, named acting mayor last week after his predecessor was removed from the post for his handling of the crisis.
"As the infection source has not yet been cut off, numbers of confirmed and suspected Sars cases remain high," Wang said. "Due to a shortage of berths at designated hospitals, not all suspected Sars patients can be hospitalized there in a timely manner."
Nearly 10,000 people have been quarantined in Beijing and according to the Beijing Sars Prevention and Control Center 19 medical facilities have been designated as Sars hospitals.
Since the government admitted to covering up the extent of the Sars outbreak in Beijing, the number of cases has risen by around 100 or more each day.
As of Tuesday, 66 deaths had been reported and 1,347 infections. Many of them are medical workers. There are an additional 1,358 suspected cases.
Wang pledged that there would be no more underreporting of the situation.
"I can say with responsibility that all figures that are reported are accurate," he said. "Any act of underreporting or attempt to cover up will be dealt with severely."
Wang acknowledged growing social instability in the capital where people have been panic buying and fleeing the city of 13 million.
"As the panic of the public has not yet been alleviated, a great deal of work is needed to ensure social stability," he said, but denied the capital would be isolated.
Wang's comments came a day after Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao warned that his country faced an uphill battle.
"China's situation in terms of Sars is still grave," Wen said at an emergency Sars summit in Bangkok of Southeast Asia leaders. "There is a surge in the number of reported cases."
On the economic front, the Shanghai and Shenzhen stock exchanges and the China Securities Regulatory Commission announced Wednesday they would close until May 12 over Sars concerns.
They said in a statement that the scheduled three-day Labor Day holiday starting May 1 will be extended through to May 9. Trading will resume on May 12.
In Hong Kong, where Sars has killed 150 people and infected more than 1,500, officials announced the cancellation of the Hong Kong Open squash tournament due to take place from August 24 to 31.
New Zealand and South Korea both confirmed their first cases on Tuesday and the Malaysian health ministry said three more suspected Sars cases had been detected there.
Africa's first probable Sars patient died in Pretoria, South Africa, although his death was attributed to a heart attack. AFP
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