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Sars: Canada, China, Hong Kong reveal new deaths
07/04/2003 09:37 - (SA)
Hong Kong - More deaths from Sars on Sunday in Canada and Hong Kong and the death of an International Labour Organisation (ILO) official in Beijing provided a gloomy backdrop to efforts to find a cure for the killer disease.
As the first suspected case of infection by the Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome (Sars) virus was detected in Kuwait and a fifth in Britain, World Health Organisation (WHO) experts pursued the search for the cause of the mystery illness in the epidemic's epicentre, southern China.
The death of the ILO's Pekka Aro from Sars was announced at a Chinese health ministry press conference in Beijing. He was the highest profile casualty of the outbreak since WHO expert Carlo Urbani - who first identified the disease - died in Bangkok last month.
Aro, from Finland, was among 19 new cases announced in the capital, bringing the number of deaths in Beijing to four.
At least 51 deaths from Sars have been reported in China and 1 247 people have been infected, according to official figures released on Sunday.
China went into damage control mode to repair an image badly tarnished by its foot-dragging in handling the outbreak.
WHO investigators held meetings with Chinese health and disease control officials on Sunday, their fourth day in Guangdong province, where the virus has killed more people than anywhere else.
In an effort to fend off criticism of China's handling of the outbreak, state-run media carried reports by the WHO praising China for its handling of the crisis the authorities put a gag on Internet surfers mentioning Sars online.
The German magazine Stern on Sunday challenged the official figure of four deaths reported in the Chinese capital, saying at least 15 died in Beijing.
Ten of the victims had died in military hospital 302, and a further 40 were hospitalised there with the ailment, Stern said on its website, quoting hospital doctors and nurses.
At least three patients and a doctor and nurse had died at another hospital in the centre of town, it reported.
In neighbouring Hong Kong, hopes that the rate of infection has slowed were dashed as two people died on Sunday and another 42 cases were detected.
Despite assurances from health authorities and Chief Executive Tung Chee-hwa last week that the rate of infection had stabilised, the sudden weekend surge raised the death toll to 22 and infections to 842.
The latest figures brought the worldwide death toll from Sars to 94 and the number of confirmed or suspected infections to 2 718.
Hong Kong residents and organisations who had begun shedding surgical masks in belief that the disease was under control, stepped up precautionary measures on Sunday.
Among them, the Roman Catholic diocese removed basins of holy water from its churches and ordered clergy to wear masks and gloves.
In Singapore, where six people have died and three new cases Sunday lifted its total of confirmed infections to 106, Prime Minister Goh Chok Tong set up a cabinet-level task force to help beef up the city-state's defences.
It was also suggested that the government take the opportunity provided by the siege under which the virus has the city to test Singapore's much-vaunted bio-terrorism security shelters.
In Malaysia, acting Prime Minister Abdullah Ahmad Badawi called for calm after the country's first probable death from Sars was announced overnight.
Australia was taking no chances after four children who recently arrived in the country were identified as suspected carriers: Authorities will detain anybody entering the country with suspected symptoms.
On the other side of the Pacific, Canadian health officials Sunday said that a person who died in hospital on April 1 had succumbed to Sars, bringing the country's death toll to nine.
Britain's department of health and the health protection agency said in a joint statement on Sunday that a man was hospitalised the previous day after returning from Taiwan on March 29, at which point he had not shown Sars symptoms.
France's ministry of health said on Sunday that 16 suspected Sars cases have now been recorded in the country.
Kuwait brought the tally of potentially affected countries to as many as 32 when it announced its first suspected case. An expatriate woman who returned to Kuwait from southeast Asia is being tested.
The Sars fallout battered the world's tourism industry. In Taipei, travel agents appealed for government help to ease the worst crisis in 30 years and Australian analysts said the virus scare would dash hopes of an Asian-sourced resuscitation of the nation's flagging tourism.
Hong Kong's Airport Authority reported that 119 flights, or 22% of Sunday's total, had been cancelled due to fears over the virus and the Iraq war adding to woes after airlines like Qantas, Continental and British Airways had slashed services to the territory.
- AFX
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