Concern grows as SARS spreads in China

12.30pm

BEIJING - More people have died of SARS in China, Hong Kong and perhaps the Philippines and the World Health Organisation says that China, which admits it badly underestimated the number of cases in the capital Beijing, may face big outbreaks in its provinces.


The Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome has already killed more than 200 people and infected about 4,000 in 25 countries.

The Philippines said it may have had its first SARS death, there were 13 new deaths in China since Friday and six in Hong Kong and more infections were reported in Singapore and India.


In Canada, the only country outside Asia where people have died of SARS, authorities said a "belligerent" health worker who ignored a request to quarantine himself could have put hundreds of people at risk when he attended a weekend funeral.


But health experts are particularly worried about China, where officials admit the health care system is poor in the countryside where 70 per cent of its 1.3 billion people live.


Premier Wen Jiabao, in a speech made last week and published on Monday, said the health system was so inadequate an epidemic could spread "before we know it" and "the consequences could be too dreadful to contemplate."


China said on Monday that 193 new cases had been reported since Friday, bringing the nationwide tally to 2,001. The official Xinhua news agency said 13 more people had died of SARS since Friday, bringing the total to 92.


"If you do not have the resources to deal with SARS, I think we're going for a very big outbreak in China," Henk Bekedam, the WHO representative in China, told Reuters.


"I think it will be quite a challenge to contain SARS within China, especially those provinces which have very limited resources."


SARS started in China's Guangdong province, but cases have now appeared in various parts of the country, including the northern region of Inner Mongolia, the eastern province of Zhejiang and Guangdong and Guangxi in the south.


In Beijing fear mixed with anger after the government raised its estimate for the number of SARS cases. China's health minister and Beijing's mayor were sacked on Sunday for negligence.


SARS is spread by coughing and sneezing, but the WHO is not ruling out the possibility that it may also be transmitted when people touch objects such as elevator buttons, or that it could be passed on in fecal matter.


Symptoms include a high fever, a dry cough, shortness of breath and difficulty breathing.

The suspected victim in the Philippines was a nurse who had come home from Canada, where 14 people, most of them elderly, have already died from SARS.


Canadian health authorities said on Monday that a health worker who is probably infected with SARS had refused to obey a voluntary quarantine request and had become "obnoxious" and "threatening."


They warned on Sunday that travellers on a suburban commuter train might have been exposed to SARS, sparking fears the virus could have spread beyond the medical community that has borne the brunt of the illness so far in Canada.


The illness leapt from Guangdong to Hong Kong, which is the hardest-hit place outside mainland China and which reported another six deaths from SARS on Monday. That brings the Hong Kong death toll to 94, the highest in the world.


Singapore reported six new cases, including three children, taking its total to 184 cases and 14 deaths. Authorities will quarantine up to 2,400 workers at a huge food market because three people who worked there contracted the virus.


A state minister said three more people in India have been diagnosed as suffering from SARS, bringing the number of cases reported there to four.


SARS is fatal in about 5 per cent of cases and has no known cure. It is taking a huge economic toll as people shun airlines, and stay at home instead of shopping and dining.


Several companies have banned or restricted travel to China and other parts of Asia. The Mormon Church said on Monday it was not sending new missionaries to Hong Kong until further evaluations could be made.


Spokeswoman Kim Farah said the Salt Lake City church has been sending missionaries to Hong Kong since 1950, and a typical missionary group is between 100 and 200.


Singapore Airlines said its SilkAir regional carrier would cut more flights in May, taking its total reduction in services to 35 per week. China's flag carrier Air China said SARS had cut its passenger traffic by 20 per cent.


Financial analysts have cut growth forecasts for East Asia outside of Japan. They say SARS will pose more of a threat to Asian growth than the Iraq war.


China cancelled the week-long May Day holiday to discourage people from travelling and spreading the disease.


Tens of millions of travellers had been expected to fill trains, planes, buses and hotels across China during the holiday, and the cancellation deals a potential body blow to the turbo-charged economy.

- REUTERS