- HONG KONG/SINGAPORE (Reuters)
- Singapore slapped a quarantine on arriving foreign workers and Indonesia
banned thousands of laborers from traveling to SARS-hit countries as anxiety
grew on Thursday over the spread of the flu-like virus.
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- Hong Kong reported three more deaths and officials feared
the illness could spread further through the city's crowded and grimy tower
blocks.
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- Singapore is trying to pin down the source of an outbreak
in the city's biggest hospital after reporting the largest jump in cases
in a fortnight.
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- "We are facing an unprecedented situation. We are
dealing with a serious, unseen threat," Singapore's Minister of Manpower,
Lee Boon Yang, said on Thursday.
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- There are fresh signs Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome
(SARS) is dealing a heavy economic blow across Asia, hitting hotels, airlines,
restaurants, taxi companies and other services.
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- As the illness spreads, governments in the region fear
slower economic growth and the long-term damage to Asia's image.
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- Nine people have died in Singapore of SARS and 126 have
been infected. The government, which has revised down economic growth forecasts,
has imposed sweeping controls, including home quarantine and school closures.
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- But the virus has kept spreading and staff in five of
the city's six big public hospitals have now been infected.
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- On Thursday, the government said it would quarantine
new foreign workers from SARS-afflicted regions such as China, Hong Kong
and Canada for 10 days.
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- Indonesia, which has one suspected SARS case, said it
had banned 8,000 workers from going to SARS-affected countries.
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- "I think we have to assume that the virus is in
Asia to stay," said Dr Jim Hughes, head of infectious diseases at
the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
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- "CERTAIN TO SPREAD"
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- Nearly 1,000 people have been infected in Hong Kong and
of these, half live in Kowloon -- the most densely populated place on the
planet.
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- "Kowloon is the worst disaster area," Fred
Li, a legislator representing the district, said on Thursday.
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- "The disease is certain to spread. People living
here have children and relatives in the next block or estate and they see
each other all the time. The risk of infection is so high."
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- Of those infected in Kowloon, almost 300 are from a single
housing estate, Amoy Gardens. More than 40 other people in neighboring
estates, such as Telford Gardens, Ngau Tau Kok and Lee Kee Building, have
fallen ill this week.
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- Hong Kong's government said on Thursday three more people
had died from SARS, bringing the death toll to 30, while 28 others had
been infected.
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- China, where SARS surfaced late last year, has the largest
number of cases but officials say the epidemic is under control and on
the wane.
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- But some doctors have disputed that, with one accusing
the health minister of lying about the number of cases in Beijing.
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- Worldwide, more than 110 people have died and nearly
3,000 have been infected.
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- Malaysia on Wednesday banned all tourists from China
to try to stop the spread of the disease and imposed restrictions on visitors
from other places. The Philippines has said it will discourage travel to
Hong Kong and southern China.
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- Taiwan said two flight attendants had been diagnosed
with SARS, taking the total number of cases in the country to 23.
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- HOTBED FOR VIRUSES
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- SARS has no known cure and health officials say they
still don't know exactly how it spreads. Researchers have yet to pin-point
the virus with certainty but believe the main culprit belongs to a family
of viruses that can cause the common cold.
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- SARS can cause severe pneumonia that cannot be helped
by drugs. About four percent of patients die. Officials say the illness
is spread by droplets such as sneezing and coughing.
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- But Hong Kong health officials say an outbreak in one
Kowloon housing estate, Amoy Gardens, may have been helped by cockroaches
carrying contaminated human waste from sewage pipes back into apartments.
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- Many Amoy Gardens residents are too afraid to return
to their cramped apartments.
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- With over 50,000 people for every square kilometer, 10
times more than the general developed world, urban standard, Kowloon is
also home to untold numbers of rats, cockroaches and other pests.
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- Legislator and surveyor Lau Peng-cheung says most buildings
are so badly designed that viruses would thrive in them.
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- Lift lobbies are often unventilated, trapping viruses.
They are also windowless, shutting off the ultra-violet rays from sunlight
that kill viruses. External piping sometimes leaks, blowing waste back
into homes.
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- "There are a lot of problems in buildings in Hong
Kong," said Lau. "To a certain extent, they are a hotbed for
viruses to proliferate."
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- Air travel has spread the illness around the world. As
fear grows, thousands of people have stopped traveling, crippling Asia's
key tourist industry.
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- Hong Kong's Airport Authority said on Thursday that 31
percent of the day's flights, or 163 flights, were canceled due to dampened
demand for air travel because of SARS.
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- In Singapore, hotel occupancy rates have tumbled by more
than half in three weeks. "This is a problem where people are just
frightened to get on a flight, to travel," said Dinky Puri, general
manager of Singapore's Holiday Inn Park View hotel.
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- "That to me is a crisis," he said.
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- (With additional reporting by Jonathan Ansfield in Beijing,
Muklis Ali in Jakarta and Tiffany Wu in Taipei)
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