- BEIJING (Reuters) - The global
death toll from SARS has passed 500 after China reported five more deaths
from an illness the government is trying desperately to stop spreading
out of control in the countryside.
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- The Health Ministry said 146 more people had been infected,
taking the number of cases to 4,698, the bulk of the world's total, while
deaths totalled 224
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- Shanghai, China's commercial capital, reported its first
death due to Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome on Thursday.
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- With no sign SARS is being controlled in the world's
most populous nation, the government and the World Health Organisation
fear the epidemic could spread rapidly through the vast hinterland, where
health services are often poor.
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- The WHO extended its SARS-related travel warning on Thursday
to the city of Tianjin and the province of Inner Mongolia as well as to
Taipei, capital of Taiwan.
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- The U.N. health agency had already warned people not
to travel to Beijing, the Chinese provinces of Guangdong and Shanxi, and
Hong Kong.
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- Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao has urged preventive measures
be taken in areas where "basic rural medical facilities are weak".
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- Reflecting those concerns, four WHO health experts headed
to the province of Hebei on Thursday to assess the ability of healthcare
systems there to cope with a SARS outbreak. The WHO said the number of
probable cases has risen sharply.
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- The province wraps around Beijing, which has the world's
highest number of SARS cases and is home to a floating population of hundreds
of thousands of migrant workers, many from Hebei.
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- The SARS virus surfaced in southern China late last year
and has been spread around the world by air travellers. Worldwide, the
death toll is 503 and more than 7,400 have been infected.
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- HIGHER DEATH RATE
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- Reinforcing global concern, an international team of
scientists said the death rate from SARS was higher than previously thought
and could be as high as 55 percent for people over 60.
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- They said the rate was about 13 percent in those under
that age. There was no evidence the virus had mutated into a deadlier form,
despite earlier mortality estimates of 6-10 percent.
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- Researchers and health officials in Hong Kong and Britain,
who examined data from the first nine weeks of the outbreak of the virus
in Hong Kong, also found the incubation period -- the time from infection
to displaying symptoms -- averaged six days.
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- Their study was released online by The Lancet medical
journal.
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- China said on Thursday it has punished more than 120
officials in the past month for covering up the extent of the SARS outbreak
or failing to prevent the spread of the flu-like virus, the Web site of
Xinhua news agency said on Thursday.
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- Officials in 15 provinces and major cities were sacked,
suspended, warned or demoted for deserting their work, delaying reporting
or covering up the number of infections and deaths.
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- ROADBLOCKS
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- In China's countryside, fear of SARS has led to some
villages setting up roadblocks to keep away people from Beijing and at
least four riots against quarantine centres have been reported in recent
days. Thousands have been quarantined in China.
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- A police official said on Thursday 64 people had been
rounded up for rioting in the northern city of Chengde because they suspected
a local clinic would be turned into a SARS hospital.
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- Hong Kong, the worst SARS-hit area outside of China proper,
reported four more deaths and seven new cases on Thursday.
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- "The number of new infections announced today is
the lowest since records began," a health official told a news conference.
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- While SARS appeared to be under control in most places
outside China, it has wreaked havoc on economies in the region.
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- Singapore Prime Minister Goh Chok Tong said on Wednesday
SARS would slow East Asia's economic growth by half to one percent this
year. A total of 27 people have died of SARS in Singapore.
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- U.S. brokerage firm Merrill Lynch cut its ratings for
Hong Kong's Cathay Pacific airline and Australia's Qantas Airways, saying
share price falls had not yet reflected the full impact.
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- Taiwan said on Thursday SARS had probably spread into
the community and the next five days would be crucial.
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- The Department of Health reported another 22 probable
and suspect cases, taking Taiwan's infections to 360, third highest
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