- The World Health Organisation warned travellers to steer
clear of Beijing and Toronto as governments around the world battled to
check the spread of the deadly SARS virus.
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- The Geneva-based UN health agency had already advised
against non-essential travel to Hong Kong and neighbouring Guangdong province
in southern China, where Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome first appeared
six months ago.
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- WHO said in a statement it was extending the scope of
its April 2 travel alert to include Beijing and the northern Chinese province
of Shanxi together with Toronto, the epicentre of the SARS outbreak in
Canada.
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- The latest travel warning came as 16 new fatalities and
hundreds of new cases of SARS were reported in Hong Kong, China and Singapore,
and the economic cost of the crisis in Asia spiralled.
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- Governments have resorted to increasingly desperate measures
to contain the disease, which has defied checks at airports and borders
to spread to more than 25 countries.
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- Latest figures showed nine new deaths and 147 new cases
in China, as well as six deaths and 24 cases in Hong Kong. Another death
was reported in Singapore while suspected new cases were also recorded
in Canada, Indonesia, Malaysia and Taiwan.
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- Seven weeks after the World Health Organisation issued
a global alert about SARS, at least 252 people have died and more than
4,400 cases have been reported.
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- Much of the focus is now on China, where the authorities
said they were adopting tougher measures to prevent SARS criss-crossing
the vast country and taking a hold on poor rural areas with skeleton medical
facilities.
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- After facing strong criticism for covering up the problem
for months, the government has this week been engaged in frenzied efforts
to report the scale of the epidemic and limit the fall-out.
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- State media said every town throughout China was given
"strict orders" to report every SARS case, and that tens of thousands
of people had been mobilized for the mass accounting effort.
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- In Beijing -- along with Hong Kong the worst hit city
in the world -- signs of panic were beginning to emerge as surgical face
masks flooded the streets and rumours caused crowds to converge on supermarkets.
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- In an attempt to reassure the public the city government
dispatched hundreds of investigators to round up citizens showing the disease's
flu-like symptoms.
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- "Unceasingly, the investigations into the epidemic
must identify all with symptoms, and not let one case escape," said
Liu Qi, Communist Party chief in the capital.
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- Education authorities in Beijing also ordered the suspension
of classes at primary and middle schools for a month.
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- China has recorded 106 deaths and 2,305 confirmed cases
of SARS, and the disease has now spread to some of the furthest corners
of the country.
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- In Singapore, where the death toll moved to 15 late Wednesday,
Prime Minister Goh Chok Tong vowed to push through legislation allowing
the government to jail people who repeatedly broke isolation orders.
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- He said that even before legislation went before parliament,
electronic tagging would be introduced for anyone suspected of violating
quarantine.
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- France and the Australian state of New South Wales also
moved to tighten restrictions on SARS by designating it a dangerous disease
requiring forcible hospitalization if necessary.
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- The Philippines quarantined 50 people who had contact
with a woman who died of SARS and Malaysia ordered the isolation of 125
lorry drivers who visited an infected market in neighbouring Singapore.
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- And the Indian Island nation of Mauritius also invoked
quarantine measures to protect its vital tourism industry, isolating 78
Chinese textile workers.
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- Canada, the worst affected area outside Asia with more
than 300 cases, announced a 15th death and eight new cases.
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- While in Hong Kong, where 105 people have died and over
1,400 cases have been recorded, the government announced a 1.5 billion
US dollar package to help business.
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- The package includes reductions in fees and rates for
the worst-affected industries and for residents in the territory where
hotels and restaurants are nearly empty and retailers say sales are down
more than 50 percent.
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- A string of financial houses have cut growth forecasts
for Asia because of SARS. The latest forecast was from US financial giant
Citigroup, which cut its 2003 forecast for China from 7.6 percent to 6.7
percent.
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- The epidemic is having a particularly devastating impact
on tourism and travel.
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- Hong Kong-based carrier Cathay Pacific said it had now
cut 45 percent of all flights, while Air New Zealand said it was cutting
seven percent of flights and lowering its profits forecast for the year.
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- The International Air Transport Association (IATA) said
more than 100 airlines were involved in crisis talks Wednesday to hash
out a battle plan to combat SARS.
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- The epidemic has also led to mass cancellations of concerts,
trade fairs, exhibitions and sporting events.
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- The latest victims were the Arafura Games in the Australian
city of Darwin and Hong Kong's famed dragon boat races. China's largest-ever
car show in Shanghai also closed three days early.
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