China seals hospital over Sars

China sealed off a major Beijing hospital yesterday to quarantine Sars-affected areas, and angry Canadian officials rejected the World Health Organisation's warning to travellers to stay away from Toronto, now one of the epicentres of the virus.

Toronto officials, worried about the toll on city businesses, huddled in emergency session to devise strategies to cope with the fallout from the Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome, which has killed 16 people in the area.

Although Canada is the only country outside Asia where people have died from Sars, Canadian officials said the WHO warning was unjustified and told the agency to "get its facts straight."

Hours after the WHO advised people against going to Beijing, Chinese police took positions around the 1,200-bed People's Hospital to stop people going in or out. The WHO has also warned against travel to Hong Kong and China's Guangdong and Shanxi provinces.

"No one is allowed to enter or leave," a member of the 2,300-strong staff told Reuters by telephone. "There are policemen and security guards standing outside."

The hospital is not one of those set aside to treat Sars patients but it has at least 60 confirmed or suspected cases among nurses and doctors.

It was the latest dramatic action by a government that declared war on Sars last week, five months after the virus first appeared in the southern Chinese province of Guangdong and led to 4,600 infections worldwide.

A respiratory infection caused by a relative of a common cold virus, Sars has no cure. It is spread by droplets from sneezing and coughing, but may also be transmitted by touching objects such as elevator buttons. It has a mortality rate near six per cent.

There have been 330 probable or suspect cases of Sars in Canada, of which most were in Toronto, which has a large ethnic Chinese population.

The outbreak has also sent thousands into quarantine and is taking a heavy toll on business in Toronto, Canada's largest city, which accounts for about a fifth of Canada's economic output. Concerns about Sars are also weighing on the Canadian dollar with investors fretting about the economic impact of the disease.

"Let me be clear. If it's safe to live in Toronto, it's safe to come to Toronto. I dare them to be here tomorrow," said Mayor Mel Lastman, referring to the WHO.

But it was clear the economic damage had been done. "Whether the people in Canada see it as much of a threat, the fact of the matter is it's really discouraging anybody from outside Canada to even venture into Canada because of it," said David Ebata, managing analyst at economic research firm Thomson IFR in Boston.

China, which came in for severe criticism last week for not revealing the extent of the disease at first, took the WHO warning in its stride.

"We have had very effective cooperation with the WHO and we hope this kind of cooperation can continue," Foreign Ministry spokesman Liu Jianchao said. "At the same time we will diligently research the relevant recommendations the WHO has made."

Mainland China has reported 110 of the 262 people killed by Sars and more than half of the 4,600 or so infections worldwide.

Beijing, a city of 14 million people, has reported almost 775 Sars cases and 39 deaths, and the number of infections is mounting by scores daily. Shanxi, west of the capital, has about 160 cases and seven deaths, the government says.

Japanese carmaker Toyota denied a report it had ordered staff out of Beijing because of Sars but said it was helping staff and families wishing to go home for the May Day holidays.

The World Bank said East Asian economies should be able to weather the disruption caused by Sars, although it would have a severe short-term effect.

The global airline industry body IATA said the plunge in air travel to and from eastern Asia because of the health scare was devastating for airlines in the region.

It maintained its prediction the already deeply troubled industry would lose about $10 billion this year after cumulative losses of $30 billion in 2001 and 2002 largely blamed on global economic problems and fears of terrorism.

Credit rating agency Fitch lowered the outlook on Hong Kong's currency to negative from stable because of Sars. Hong Kong has seen 109 Sars deaths.

Singapore's toll rose to 17 fatalities and two suspected ones. The city-state said all visitors entering and leaving would have their temperatures checked.

"We have to muster all our resolve and resources in order to fight Sars," Deputy Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong told Singapore's parliament.

"Then we can bring the Sars outbreak under control, restore confidence and get the economy moving. If we fail to do so, and allow the disease to overwhelm us, the consequences will be catastrophic."

Taiwan closed off a hospital in Taipei after city officials said another 16 people may have been infected.