China shuts hospital over SARS, Canada furious at WHO<\/p>\n
Benjamin Kang Lim, Reuters, Beijing<\/p>\n
China sealed off a major Beijing hospital on Thursday, swiftly
\nimplementing a policy of quarantining SARS-affected areas to
\ncontain a disease threatening to erupt across the vast land.<\/p>\n
Hours after the World Health Organization advised people
\nagainst visiting the city, police took positions around the
\n1,200-bed Beijing University People's Hospital in the middle of
\nthe night to stop people going in or out.<\/p>\n
\"No one is allowed to enter or leave,\" a member of the 2,300-
\nstrong staff told Reuters by telephone. \"There are policemen and
\nsecurity guards standing outside.\"<\/p>\n
The hospital is not one of those set aside to treat SARS
\npatients but it has at least 60 confirmed or suspected cases
\namong nurses and doctors.<\/p>\n
It was the latest dramatic action by a government that
\ndeclared war on Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome last week, five
\nmonths after the virus first appeared in the southern Chinese
\nprovince of Guangdong and started spreading around the world.<\/p>\n
There was outrage in Canada as the WHO added its main city
\nToronto to a list of places to avoid because of SARS, in addition
\nto Beijing, Hong Kong, Guangdong and Shanxi provinces.<\/p>\n
\"Where did this group come from? Who did they see? Who did
\nthey talk to?\" an angry mayor of Toronto, Mel Lastman, asked at a
\nnews conference, referring to the WHO.<\/p>\n
\"Let me be clear. If it's safe to live in Toronto, it's safe
\nto come to Toronto. I dare them to be here tomorrow.\"<\/p>\n
Canada has 330 cases of SARS and 16 deaths, most of them in
\nToronto, which has a large ethnic Chinese population.<\/p>\n
China, which came in for severe criticism last week for not
\nrevealing the extent of the disease at first, took the WHO
\nwarning in its stride.<\/p>\n
\"We have had very effective cooperation with the WHO and we
\nhope this kind of cooperation can continue,\" foreign ministry
\nspokesman Liu Jianchao said. \"At the same time we will diligently
\nresearch the relevant recommendations the WHO has made for
\npreventing and curing the outbreak.\"<\/p>\n
Mainland China has reported 110 of the 262 people killed by
\nSARS and more than half of the 4,650 infections worldwide.<\/p>\n
Beijing, a city of 14 million people, has reported almost 775
\nSARS cases and 39 deaths and the number of infections is mounting
\nby scores daily. Shanxi, west of the capital, has about 160 cases
\nand seven deaths, the government says.<\/p>\n
The World Bank said East Asian economies should be able to
\nweather the disruption caused by SARS, although it would have a
\nsevere short-term effect.<\/p>\n
The Paris-based think tank OECD said overall economic fallout
\nof the SARS crisis for worst-affected countries could be
\nsignificant as tourism and retail sectors suffered major blows.<\/p>\n
Credit rating agency Fitch lowered the outlook on Hong Kong's
\ncurrency to negative from stable because of SARS and the toll it
\nis taking on business in the former British colony where 109
\npeople have died.<\/p>\n
\"Now well into its second month and continuing to deteriorate,
\nthe SARS outbreak appears to be depressing economic activity in
\nHong Kong dramatically,\" Fitch said.<\/p>\n
Singapore reported another death from SARS overnight, taking
\nits total to 15 known fatalities and two suspected ones. The
\ncity-state said all visitors entering and leaving will have their
\ntemperature checked at the airport or at land crossings.<\/p>\n
\"We have to muster all our resolve and resources in order to
\nfight SARS,\" Deputy Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong told
\nSingapore's parliament.<\/p>\n
\"Then we can bring the SARS outbreak under control, restore
\nconfidence and get the economy moving. If we fail to do so, and
\nallow the disease to overwhelm us, the consequences will be
\ncatastrophic.\"<\/p>\n
SARS, a respiratory infection caused by a relative of a common
\ncold virus, has no sure-fire cure. It is spread by droplets from
\nsneezing and coughing, but may also be transmitted by touching
\nobjects such as lift buttons.<\/p>\n
WHO fears that SARS, with a mortality rate that approaches six
\npercent, may become a permanent human disease.<\/p>\n
Much of that worry focused on China, which admits the
\nhealthcare system is inadequate in the countryside where 70
\npercent of its 1.3 billion people live.<\/p>\n
Premier Wen Jiabao said the consequences of eruptions in rural
\nChina \"could be too dreadful to contemplate\".<\/p>",
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