Posted on 04/22/2003 1:58:57 AM PDT by kattracks
Edited on 05/26/2004 5:13:24 PM PDT by Jim Robinson. [history]
April 22, 2003 -- A Toronto-area man, possibly infected with the deadly SARS virus, deliberately ignored a quarantine request and attended funeral services - where he might have sickened hundreds more people, officials said.
Confronted over his actions, the man was "obnoxious, threatening and belligerent," said Dr. Hanif Kassam, medical officer for the York region, just north of Toronto, Ontario.
(Excerpt) Read more at nypost.com ...
Charges?? Has Canadian society been completely cretinized?
The guy should be strapped to his bed for the rest of his life. Or just put down by the next person he coughs on.
By REUTERS
Filed at 5:35 a.m. ET
BEIJING (Reuters) - China and Hong Kong reported 10 new deaths from SARS on Tuesday and Beijing tried to stop people from traveling to the vast countryside in a frantic effort to contain the deadly virus.
The official Xinhua news agency, quoting Health Ministry data, said the death toll in China -- epicenter of a virus that has killed 235 people and infected 4,1000 in 25 countries -- had risen by five to 97.
Hong Kong also reported five more deaths from Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome for a total of 99, the highest in the world, and 32 fresh cases.
After raising the number of cases in Beijing 13-fold in two days, China warned people against traveling to the provinces, which the World Health Organization said may see big outbreaks.
The warning was issued ahead of the now shortened ``Golden Week'' holidays in early May marking International Labor Day, when tens of millions of people were expected to journey to their home villages.
The WHO representative in China Henk Bekedam told Reuters it would be ``quite a challenge to contain SARS'' in China and ``I think we're going for a very big outbreak.''
That dire prediction was reinforced by Premier Wen Jiabao, who admitted the health system was ill prepared in the countryside, where 70 percent of China's 1.3 billion people live.
A SARS epidemic could spread ``before we know it'' and ``the consequences could be too dreadful to contemplate,'' he said in a speech published on Monday.
ANGRY DOCTORS
China, where SARS first appeared in southern Guangdong province in November, reported 157 new cases of SARS on Tuesday for a cumulative total of 2,158 -- more than half the world's total. Hong Kong has 1,434 cases.
The sudden surge of Chinese cases appeared to back allegations that officials had tried to hide the extent of the deadly flu-like disease.
Health workers have accused authorities of ordering the transfer of SARS patients at two military hospitals in Beijing to another hospital while a team of WHO virologists visited.
Many doctors and nurses are angry because their hospitals are turned into SARS wards and they are forced to treat SARS patients even though they lack the expertise and equipment.
In a move to sooth such anger, the Communist Party sacked the health minister and the Beijing mayor at the weekend.
Wang Qishan, a troubleshooting economist, was appointed Beijing mayor on Tuesday in an apparent bid to reassure foreign investors. Beijing is also preparing to host the 2008 Olympics.
Wang was in charge of cleaning up the troubled trust sector following the collapse of Guangdong International Trust and Investment Corp in 1998.
WEDDING GUESTS QUARANTINED
In India, 25 wedding guests were quarantined on Tuesday after a SARS infected bride insisted on getting married in a church despite pleas from doctors, officials said.
The bride, whose mother and brother also tested positive, joined them in a hospital isolation unit. The 25 guests, who included four children, were quarantined in separate apartments.
That brought to four the number of SARS cases in India. Some doctors fear it could become epidemic in India, due to its congested cities and overstretched health system.
Malaysia reported the death of a second probable SARS victim after a 26-year-old man who had recently visited China and Thailand succumbed on Tuesday.
In Singapore, which has the world's fourth-highest number of confirmed SARS cases at 184 with 14 deaths, Prime Minister Goh Chok Tong said China should have told the world of SARS earlier and that its initial handling of the illness was wrong.
``I think the WHO would have wished that they would have done this in November last year and all of us would be much happier,'' Goh told BBC Television when asked if he wished there had been greater transparency from China earlier in the process.
Chinese President Hu Jintao declared war on SARS last week, ordering full disclosure and threatening harsh punishment for officials caught covering up cases or delaying reporting.
SARS has no known cure and is fatal in around four percent of all cases. Scientists are working feverishly on diagnostic tests, but a vaccine could be years away.
The disease is taking a huge economic toll as people shun airlines and stay at home instead of shop, dine out and travel.
Financial analysts have cut growth forecasts for East Asia outside of Japan and say SARS will pose more of threat to Asian growth than the Iraq war.
I believe Singapore has a policy that anybody breaking SARS quarantine is subject to either a jail term or $5000 fine.
Quarantines need to be enforced in Canada and elsewhere. They should be mandatory, not optional. To not do so can be deadly for others.
At the very least, Hong Kong and China should be and should already have been quarantined.
Now, the virus is in many countries. And it's impossible to undo this one. International business travel is no longer necessary with the advent of video conference calls on the internet.
If this isn't as much as it's being said to be here, it's a good preparatory model for the real thing.
We can't worry about the effect on tourism or business when the issue is about a possible epidemic and many millions of deaths.
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