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Posted on 04/13/2003 6:09:00 AM PDT by Asher
Reuters
Jump in SARS Deaths; Airline Fears for Future
Sunday April 13, 8:42 am ET- By Rico Ngai and Tony Munroe
HONG KONG (Reuters) - Hong Kong reported a sharp jump in deaths from the SARS virus on Sunday as Asia's fourth largest airline said it could soon ground its fleet if passenger numbers fell further. In a further sign severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS) was far from being contained in Hong Kong, the government said five more people had died and 42 more had been infected with the flu-like virus.
It was the largest jump in the death toll in weeks and raises the number killed from the virus to 40 since the epidemic began in the city in March. At least 1,150 have been infected.
The virus has been spread by air travelers to nearly 20 countries, killing 126 people and infecting nearly 3,200. Canada reported three more deaths. Singapore reported one death from the disease, with two more suspected.
The illness has crippled tourism in Asia and forced airlines to cuts flights sharply. Economists say the longer the crisis lasts the deeper it will eat into the region's economies and it could push some, including Hong Kong, back into recession.
Hong Kong's Cathay Pacific Airways said in an internal memo the company was losing US$3 million a day.
The airline is carrying only a third of its usual traffic volume and a senior official said on Sunday the company could not rule out grounding its fleet next month if things got worse.
"If demand falls still further we will have to respond accordingly," said Tony Tyler, director of corporate development.
"Clearly we can't rule out any particular course of action, but we will respond to circumstances."
Hong Kong's airport authority said 195 flights, or 37 percent of those scheduled, were canceled on Sunday. Passenger numbers at the airport have fallen more than 60 percent in recent days.
Canada, which has the third-largest number of SARS cases, said three more people had died, bringing the death toll to 13, while there were more than 270 probable or suspected cases of infection. Thousands of people have been quarantined.
Singapore's death toll rose to 10 and four new cases of the disease were reported but the government said primary and secondary schools would reopen on April 14 and 16, respectively, after having been closed since late last month.
NO CURE
SARS can lead to severe pneumonia and health officials say they are still not sure exactly how the virus spreads, although close contact with an infected person appears to be the main method of transmission. About four percent of the infected die.
The virus surfaced in southern China in November before being spreading to Hong Kong and elsewhere by overseas travelers. China has the highest number of deaths and infections.
Scientists say they have identified a virus, part of a family of viruses that can cause the common cold, but say it is new to science and there is no known cure. Diagnostic tests are still being perfected.
Fears of the virus have prompted affected countries to take dramatic control measures, from home quarantine for thousands of suspected cases, to banning tourists from China.
Malaysia banned Chinese tourists last week and in response Beijing has advised travel agencies not to organize tours to SARS-infected areas such as Singapore, Thailand and Malaysia, local media said. It has not asked operators to halt trips to Hong Kong, however.
Late on Saturday Malaysia temporarily lifted travel curbs on visitors from Hong Kong, Vietnam and Canada.
DIRE AIRLINE OUTLOOK
The World Health Organization issued an advisory this month against travel to southern China and Hong Kong. The measure has further cut the number of people traveling to Hong Kong, one of Asia's main financial centers and top tourist destinations.
Hard-hit Cathay is carrying roughly 10,000 passengers every day, down from 30,000 in ordinary circumstances.
"We forecast that the number of passengers could fall to less than 6,000 per day in May, in which case we will have to consider grounding the entire passenger fleet," Nick Rhodes, Cathay's director of flight operations, said in an internal memo seen by Reuters on Saturday.
"We are literally hemorrhaging cash -- approximately US$3 million per day," he said in the memo, which was posted internally on Friday.
Tyler said Cathay had no plans to cancel all passenger flights. The airline has already cut 42 percent of its flights.
China says 59 people have died of SARS and more than 1,300 are infected. The illness has spread to a number of areas in China, most recently impoverished Inner Mongolia.
WHO officials have said the epidemic was being contained elsewhere in the world but they were worried about China and the ability of some infected areas to recognize and control SARS.
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It will be part of the reason why, but the restructuring of the airline industry would have happened irrespective of SARs.
Yes, I saw the same thing in another article, and also heard it on the local news. It's funny how they only report foreigners having the disease. I have heard that there are plenty of locals in the hospitals also. Mostly just rumors, but I'm pretty sure the government is keeping a lid on it so people won't panic.
They have set up a help-line, and the nightly news casts are starting to report more and more information about SARS. They have also been showing patients in the hospitals and the treatment they're getting. The wards are all sealed and scrubbed everyday. Doctors and nurses are taking all the precautions recommended. Their technology, tools, and methods are so out of date it still looks like something out of a history movie and not what we're used to seeing in the US today.
I've seen many people posting comments saying this is a bio-weapon developed by the Chinese. I find that laughable. The Chinese cannot even isolate the virus, let alone manipulate it!
It might well be the case of they are just members of the same club as everyone else.
While that theory appears to have fallen by the scientific wayside, Dr. Plummer is still skeptical that the new coronavirus is the answer. His lab has studied over 2,000 specimens and has found the coronavirus in less than 50 per cent of specimens from SARS patients.
"In our data, the association between coronavirus and this disease seems to be getting weaker, rather than stronger," he said.
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/892261/posts
Some leftists might say, that it is more likely to be a result of US biowarfare. If you look at the effect on the Chinese economy vs. the US economy, that would be a likely conclusion.
That isn't too bad. What is the world wide death rate of the flu?
I am wondering if we are making more out of this than needs to be made.
Typical case of the flu has about .01% mortality IIRC.
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