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Monday, May 12, 2003
9 new deaths in Asia as Chinese premier warns Sars situation 'grim' (9:55 am)
HONG KONG -- China, Hong Kong and Singapore recorded a total of nine new deaths from Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome (Sars) and more than 70 new infections Sunday, with the Chinese premier conceding the country's battle with the disease was still far from over.
As the latest fatalities took China's death toll to 240, and 69 new infections brought the total number to 4,948, Premier Jiabao Wen warned that the Sars outbreak was not under control and could spread further, especially in the countryside.
"Looking at the nationwide situation, Sars prevention and control work has attained certain achievements, but the situation is still grim," the Xinhua news agency quoted Wen as saying Sunday during a weekend visit to northern Shanxi, one of the worst hit provinces.
"On the whole, the epidemic situation is not fully under control and still has a danger to continue to spread," Wen said.
He stressed that China faced an urgent task to stop Sars spreading in rural areas, where the majority of the population lives.
A team of WHO experts Sunday left for the province of Guangxi, which borders Guangdong, where Sars caused the biggest concern in China until more than 100 died in Beijing from the disease.
"The province is next to Guangdong and there are a lot of migrant workers from Guangxi who work in Guangdong," WHO spokeswoman Mangai Balasegaram told AFP. "It's considered one of the poorest provinces. There are a lot of concerns about what might happen if Sars spreads there."
So far the province has reported only 20 cases, compared to 1,506 in Guangdong, but Balasegaram said the situation in Guangxi could be much worse than reported.
Meanwhile, the Chinese Government announced it has allocated an additional 812.6 million yuan (US$98.3 million) to help some of the country's poorest rural areas fight Sars, the Xinhua news agency said.
Guangdong province's capital, Guangzhou, also launched a crackdown on spitting, as droplets from spit are feared to transmit Sars.
In Hong Kong, health authorities said three more people died from Sars and four new cases were recorded Sunday -- bringing Hong Kong's death toll to 215 from 1,678 infections.
Neighboring Macau launched an emergency anti-Sars plan after the former Portuguese colony confirmed its first case of the disease.
And in Singapore, a 44-year-old female nurse died of Sars, bringing its death toll to 28, the Ministry of Health said.
The number of infections remained at 205, but the senior minister leading Singapore's Sars fight earlier warned against underestimating the threat posed by the disease.
Singapore has gone two weeks without a new case of the pneumonia-like Sars and the WHO is expected to declare the city-state Sars-free if it remains clear until May 18.
But a senior minister there warned that this declaration does not mean Singapore's battle with the deadly outbreak would be over.
"Let us get the perspective right. I've been reading reports that say if you cross the finishing point, May 18, without any new cases, we have finished the fight," Senior Minister of State Khaw Boon Wan said in remarks published in the Sunday Times.
"Rubbish, those are very dangerous thoughts. This is a prolonged war. If we cross May 18 without any new cases, it is worth celebrating. But it is just the first of many, many milestones we have to cross," said Khaw.
Taiwan's health authorities reported 12 more Sars cases on Sunday, bringing the total number to 184, although the number of deaths remained unchanged at 18.
Soon after the new infection figures were released, officials said Taiwan will place video-conferencing equipment in the homes of some of the 10,083 people quarantined for Sars to monitor their whereabouts in a desperate bid to contain the spread of the virus.
And with the Sars epidemic escalating in the capital, the Taipei city government announced all passengers on the metro system must wear protective masks from Sunday or be fined up to 7,500 Taiwan dollars (US$216).
In a more positive development a team of researchers at Hong Kong University said Sunday it had discovered a potential new treatment for Sars.
Dr. David Ho, an internationally renowned expert on Human Immunodeficiency Virus/Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndrome (HIV/AIDS), teamed up with Hong Kong University researchers to study new treatments for the coronavirus, identified by the WHO as causing Sars.
Ho told reporters research had found that a synthetic protein called a peptide, which was tailored for the coronavirus, had successfully protected cells from becoming infected.
Sars has claimed more than 520 lives around the world, mostly in Asia including in Vietnam (5), Thailand (2), the Philippines (2) and Malaysia (2).
In Canada, the only country outside Asia to have reported Sars-linked deaths, the death toll stood at 23 on Saturday. AFP
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