China battles Sars panic

Beijing said yesterday the Sars virus threatened to overwhelm hospitals and it was acting to quell panic, but Toronto was jubilant after the WHO ended a warning against travel to Canada's financial capital.

Beijing's acting Mayor Wang Qishan said the next week would be critical in determining whether the spread of the pneumonia-like Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome was being curbed.

A spike in the number of cases of Sars in the Chinese capital has sparked widespread fear and in some areas panic-buying of medicines and staple foods, as residents stock up to wait out the peak of Sars at home.

"As the panic of the public has not yet been alleviated, a great deal of work is needed to ensure social stability," Wang told foreign journalists.

"Due to a shortage of beds at designated hospitals, not all suspected Sars patients can be hospitalised in a timely manner," he said, adding that the government is expanding the number of hospitals handling the disease to more than a dozen.

Beijing is the hardest-hit area in the world, reporting well over 100 new Sars infections a day and about 1,400 cases with 75 deaths. The number of infections has shot up from 37 since China began reporting more complete figures on April 20.

Beijing has already closed schools and theatres and put nearly 10,000 people under quarantine. Wang vowed to take decisive steps to contain the disease.

Some Shanghai districts begun imposing a 14-day quarantine order on visitors from Sars-hit areas, including Beijing, a city official said.

Hong Kong leader Tung Chee-hwa said he was concerned about reports of Hong Kong people being quarantined in China and he had made inquiries to Beijing authorities. "I've expressed my very grave concern about this and I've waiting for a response from the central government," Tung told reporters in Hong Kong.

Hong Kong said Sars had killed seven more people, bringing the death toll to 157 with a total of 1,589 cases, second only to mainland China on both counts.

Shanghai has also announced the closure of its stock exchange from May 1 to May 9 as the government tries to keep Sars out of packed dealing rooms.

China's state media saying the value of deals at China's top trade fair had slumped to a quarter of previous levels - the worst showing in 15 years.

Taiwan said yesterday two more people had died of Sars and the number of probable and suspected cases jumped sharply to 174 from 151, as it sealed off another hospital.

Asian leaders, meeting in Bangkok on Tuesday, adopted measures to isolate and control Sars outbreaks, including rigorous screening of international travellers, exchange of research, and regular reports about outbreaks.

Canada, the only country outside Asia where people have died of the virus that has no cure, also promised tougher steps, including screening at its airports.

"We are delighted with the World Health Organisation's latest decision," Ontario Health Minister Tony Clement said. "And we certainly know that our vigilance must not stop."

The original WHO decision advising against travel to Toronto aroused howls of protest in Canada.

But health officials expect travellers to continue spreading the scourge in an increasingly interconnected world and say the disease - and others like it - is likely to become endemic.

It is "increasingly unlikely" that Sars will go away, said Dr Julie Gerberding, director of the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Other diseases would emerge the way Sars did, she said. "We can anticipate doing this again and again."

Sars has infected nearly six thousand people in 29 countries, killing at least 372 around the world. Scientists say it is mainly passed by droplets through sneezing and coughing.

Health ministers from South Asian countries also adopted measures to screen international travellers at a meeting in the Maldives on Tuesday and their counterparts from the European Union planned an emergency meeting next week.

India has reported nine new Sars cases, taking its total number of people infected by the virus to at least 19 since mid-April, but no one has died.

Leaders of the 10-member Association of South East Asian Nations, along with China and Hong Kong, were encouraged at the Bangkok meeting that the WHO thought the virus was peaking in Singapore, Hong Kong, Vietnam and Canada.

Singapore said it was too early to say its outbreak had peaked and warned of more unemployment as tourism plunges.

Sars weighed on financial markets in Asia yesterday, after rallies this week on hopes outbreaks had peaked.