- HONG KONG (Reuters)
- Hong Kong police launched a manhunt on Friday for hundreds of people
who were exposed to a deadly respiratory virus as World Health Organization
experts tried to nail down the source of the disease in southern China.
-
- "If our Health Department colleagues think these
people may infect other people, we'll use minimal force to send them to
hospital for treatment," a police spokesman said.
-
- The tough measure came after more than 10 staff at Hong
Kong's United Christian Hospital contracted the disease from a patient,
raising fears a new wave of infections was beginning and the epidemic in
the territory was far from being contained.
-
- Hong Kong reported 27 new cases of Severe Acute Respiratory
Syndrome (SARS) on Friday, bringing its total to 761, the highest number
of infections after mainland China's nearly 1,200 cases. Shanghai said
it had one confirmed SARS infection.
-
- The disease, which can lead to pneumonia, has killed
82 people and infected over 2,400 worldwide, prompting global concerns
and leading economists to trim growth forecasts for parts of Asia after
a plunge in tourist arrivals and sharp cutbacks on airline flights.
-
- More countries imposed tougher restrictions on visitors
on Friday to try to stem the spread of the disease, which scientists say
is caused by a previously unknown virus that might have originated in animals.
-
- Thailand added Canada to its list of high-risk areas
and said its doctors would board all flights from there on arrival to test
passengers for symptoms of the virus. Canada has the third highest number
of cases in the world and has had seven deaths.
-
- Malaysia, a major tourist destination in Asia, said all
visitors would be required to make health declarations with immediate effect
after a man died earlier this week, apparently from a flu-like virus.
-
- Japan urged its citizens to exercise caution on trips
to areas including Singapore, Hanoi, Taiwan, Macau and Toronto.
-
- POLICE HUNT
-
- In Hong Kong, police hunted members of 113 families who
had fled an apartment block in the crowded Kowloon district after a sudden
outbreak of infections there. The remaining residents were quickly quarantined
and shipped to isolation camps.
-
- Health officials believe everyone who had been living
in Block E of Amoy Gardens was infected, and could be spreading the disease.
The government has urged them in television and radio ads to turn themselves
in but few have responded.
-
- SARS first surfaced in China's southern Guangdong province
in November and the illness has been spread by air travelers from Asia
to North America and Europe. Little is known about the virus and scientists
have yet to pin down exactly how it is spread.
-
- Scientists from the WHO, which has warned against travel
to southern China and Hong Kong because of the disease, were in Guangdong
on Friday hunting for clues to the source of the virus.
-
- "We know that it's the same disease because China
is now in line with the rest of the world in its case definition,"
said WHO spokesman Chris Powell. "But it's far too early to start
thinking which virus, how it travels or how it got between A, B, C and
D."
-
- Concern over SARS has even reached the remote South Pacific.
Chinese travelers are now barred from entering Tahiti and other idyllic
islands, Australian Broadcasting Corporation radio reported, quoting French
Polynesia's President Gaston Flosse.
-
- Singapore said a 29-year-old woman died there on Friday
from SARS, taking the number of infections in the island state to 101.
-
- But WHO scientist Osman David Mansoor said the epidemic
was "almost certainly over" in Singapore but one to two weeks
were needed before anyone could confidently know for sure.
-
- Neighboring Indonesia, the world's fourth most populous
nation, has no confirmed SARS cases but is bracing for a possible outbreak.
The price of masks has skyrocketed.
-
- MASSIVE COSTS
-
- With the war against Iraq already crimping growth, economists
are counting the extra cost to countries affected by the epidemic as airlines
cut flights to affected areas, hotels struggle with large cancellations
and companies impose sweeping travel bans.
-
- "With SARS, tourists will not come, Hong Kong people
are not going to go out, so it's going to have a September 11 effect on
the economy," said Frank Gong at the Bank of America.
-
- Hong Kong Hospital Authority director Ko Wing-man said
he was worried by the new outbreak at the United Christian Hospital, where
more than 100 SARS patients are being treated. The hospital is now tracing
others who might have been exposed.
-
- A distraught caller to a radio show said her son who
worked at the hospital did not dare go home for fear of infecting his family.
-
- "I do not even where he is," said the sobbing
woman.
-
- Symptoms of the disease include chills, coughing, high
fever and breathing difficulties. About four percent of victims die and
many others end up in intensive care for weeks.
-
- In Australia, three Canadian children were isolated in
a hospital with one diagnosed as probably having the disease.
-
- Copyright © 2003 Reuters Limited. All rights reserved.
Republication or redistribution of Reuters content is expressly prohibited
without the prior written consent of Reuters. Reuters shall not be liable
for any errors or delays in the content, or for any actions taken in reliance
thereon.
- Copyright © 2003 Yahoo! Inc. All rights reserved.
|
