G-khan
05-01-2003, 11:28 PM
BEIJING (AFP) - The SARS crisis cast a pall over China's May Day celebrations, normally one of the biggest holidays of the year, as the global death toll rose with the announcement of more dead in China and Hong Kong.
At the same time, scientists met in Canada to discuss how to battle the disease that has now killed 393 worldwide and infected nearly 6,000.
With Beijing brought to a near-standstill by Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome and more than 11,000 residents in quarantine, shopping malls and tourist sites received just a trickle of visitors on May Day Thursday, when socialist China traditionally honours its workers.
For those who did decide to go out there was not much to do as indoor sports facilities -- from swimming pools to basketball courts -- were added to the list of already shut facilities such as cinemas, theatres and libraries.
The festivities were dampened further with the announcement of 11 more deaths in China and 187 more confirmed detections. The news was less grave from Hong Kong, where five people died after contracting SARS and 11 new cases were confirmed, suggesting that new infections were on the decline.
China now has reported 170 deaths from SARS and 3,460 cases, including 82 deaths in Beijing and 1,553 cases. Hong Kong has reported 162 deaths and 1,600 cases.
With the usual week-long holiday cancelled, China used the occasion to honour medical workers on the front lines of the battle against SARS.
Six medical workers from three medical institutions received the Labor Day medal for their dedication to their work, the Communist Party's People's Daily said.
If World Health Organisation (WHO) warnings are anything to go by, China's healthworkers need more than awards to get the disease under control.
It has said that hospitals in the Chinese capital are in need of more medical equipment.
"There is a need for more specialized equipment such as masks, gloves, ventilatory equipment, layer protective gear and ambulances to transport patients between hospitals," said WHO epidemiologist James Maguire after visiting a Beijing hospital here treating SARS patients.
In other developments in China, the authorities stepped up the battle against SARS in some of the more remote regions of the vast country of 1.3 billion people.
Tibet was virtually cut-off Thursday as China sent a fifth SARS prevention and supervision team to help local authorities prepare for the possible onset of SARS in an area which is one of the few places in China reporting no cases.
Chinese tourism officials imposed a ban earlier this week on tour groups visiting the so-called "Roof of the World" for an indefinite period.
The Tibet Information Network said that since Sunday all international flights into and out of the region had been halted and that border-crossing points were completely sealed.
In the northern autonomous region of Inner Mongolia, where nine SARS deaths have been reported and 127 cases, the authorities have begun construction of a new 1,000-bed hospital in the regional capital Hohhot.
Health experts from Canada, the United States and Hong Kong were to meet for a second day in the Canadian city of Toronto, meanwhile, to discuss efforts to combat the respiratory illness, which first appeared in China in November and has since spread around the world.
More than 100 scientists, epidemiologists and health officials are attending the two-day conference, which began Wednesday and is focused on SARS diagnosis, treatment and its epidemiological characteristics.
WHO officials were also to attend the meeting in Toronto, the epicenter of the SARS outbreak in Canada.
Also on the medical front, hospital authorities in Hong Kong were examining the cases of 12 SARS patients who recovered from the disease but then apparently suffered relapses, a potentially new and worrying development.
Six of the former SARS patients are back in hospital in stable condition, while the other six have been released again.
Fung Hung, chief executive of Hong Kong's Prince of Wales hospital, said it was too early to conclude the former SARS patients had suffered a relapse.
"We can't immediately conclude it is a relapse when a patient happens to suffer fever after recovering from SARS," he said. "We need experts to do clinical studies."
Authorities were forced on the defensive for releasing six of the relapse patients.
"We do not rule out the possibility that recovered patients may still excrete a small amount of virus... but it is important to conduct more tests and studies to understand how long a patient will continue to excrete the virus after they have recovered," said Director of Health Dr Margaret Chan.
With airlines worldwide struggling to cope with the slowdown in international travel caused by fear of SARS, Air India was also battling pilots Thursday who were similarly refusing to fly for fear of coming into contact with infected travellers.
The airline was considering breaking the strike by hiring overseas pilots.
And in Canada, where struggling Air Canada has filed for bankruptcy proceedings, the airline said it would have to make swingeing cuts to operations in order to survive.
Other SARS deaths have occurred in Singapore (24), Canada (23), Vietnam (5), Taiwan (3), Malaysia (2), the Philippines (2) and Thailand (2).
http://asia.news.yahoo.com/030501/afp/030501165616asiapacificnews.html
At the same time, scientists met in Canada to discuss how to battle the disease that has now killed 393 worldwide and infected nearly 6,000.
With Beijing brought to a near-standstill by Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome and more than 11,000 residents in quarantine, shopping malls and tourist sites received just a trickle of visitors on May Day Thursday, when socialist China traditionally honours its workers.
For those who did decide to go out there was not much to do as indoor sports facilities -- from swimming pools to basketball courts -- were added to the list of already shut facilities such as cinemas, theatres and libraries.
The festivities were dampened further with the announcement of 11 more deaths in China and 187 more confirmed detections. The news was less grave from Hong Kong, where five people died after contracting SARS and 11 new cases were confirmed, suggesting that new infections were on the decline.
China now has reported 170 deaths from SARS and 3,460 cases, including 82 deaths in Beijing and 1,553 cases. Hong Kong has reported 162 deaths and 1,600 cases.
With the usual week-long holiday cancelled, China used the occasion to honour medical workers on the front lines of the battle against SARS.
Six medical workers from three medical institutions received the Labor Day medal for their dedication to their work, the Communist Party's People's Daily said.
If World Health Organisation (WHO) warnings are anything to go by, China's healthworkers need more than awards to get the disease under control.
It has said that hospitals in the Chinese capital are in need of more medical equipment.
"There is a need for more specialized equipment such as masks, gloves, ventilatory equipment, layer protective gear and ambulances to transport patients between hospitals," said WHO epidemiologist James Maguire after visiting a Beijing hospital here treating SARS patients.
In other developments in China, the authorities stepped up the battle against SARS in some of the more remote regions of the vast country of 1.3 billion people.
Tibet was virtually cut-off Thursday as China sent a fifth SARS prevention and supervision team to help local authorities prepare for the possible onset of SARS in an area which is one of the few places in China reporting no cases.
Chinese tourism officials imposed a ban earlier this week on tour groups visiting the so-called "Roof of the World" for an indefinite period.
The Tibet Information Network said that since Sunday all international flights into and out of the region had been halted and that border-crossing points were completely sealed.
In the northern autonomous region of Inner Mongolia, where nine SARS deaths have been reported and 127 cases, the authorities have begun construction of a new 1,000-bed hospital in the regional capital Hohhot.
Health experts from Canada, the United States and Hong Kong were to meet for a second day in the Canadian city of Toronto, meanwhile, to discuss efforts to combat the respiratory illness, which first appeared in China in November and has since spread around the world.
More than 100 scientists, epidemiologists and health officials are attending the two-day conference, which began Wednesday and is focused on SARS diagnosis, treatment and its epidemiological characteristics.
WHO officials were also to attend the meeting in Toronto, the epicenter of the SARS outbreak in Canada.
Also on the medical front, hospital authorities in Hong Kong were examining the cases of 12 SARS patients who recovered from the disease but then apparently suffered relapses, a potentially new and worrying development.
Six of the former SARS patients are back in hospital in stable condition, while the other six have been released again.
Fung Hung, chief executive of Hong Kong's Prince of Wales hospital, said it was too early to conclude the former SARS patients had suffered a relapse.
"We can't immediately conclude it is a relapse when a patient happens to suffer fever after recovering from SARS," he said. "We need experts to do clinical studies."
Authorities were forced on the defensive for releasing six of the relapse patients.
"We do not rule out the possibility that recovered patients may still excrete a small amount of virus... but it is important to conduct more tests and studies to understand how long a patient will continue to excrete the virus after they have recovered," said Director of Health Dr Margaret Chan.
With airlines worldwide struggling to cope with the slowdown in international travel caused by fear of SARS, Air India was also battling pilots Thursday who were similarly refusing to fly for fear of coming into contact with infected travellers.
The airline was considering breaking the strike by hiring overseas pilots.
And in Canada, where struggling Air Canada has filed for bankruptcy proceedings, the airline said it would have to make swingeing cuts to operations in order to survive.
Other SARS deaths have occurred in Singapore (24), Canada (23), Vietnam (5), Taiwan (3), Malaysia (2), the Philippines (2) and Thailand (2).
http://asia.news.yahoo.com/030501/afp/030501165616asiapacificnews.html