Posted on 05/19/2003 7:55:15 AM PDT by BallandPowder
TAIPEI, Taiwan -- Taiwan saw its biggest increase yet in SARS cases today, one day after the health minister resigned to take responsibility for the deepening crisis.
Meanwhile, Singapore hoped its outbreak would be declared over as early as Sunday. In Canada, the government devised a $176 million public relations campaign to lure travelers to Toronto after an outbreak scared away visitors.
The 34 new SARS cases in Taiwan were the biggest one-day increase since the respiratory disease hit the capital two months ago, then spread to the south of the island.
SARS, which has infected more than 7,800 people worldwide and killed at least 625, is accelerating in Taiwan, although new infections are declining elsewhere.
Health Department chief, Twu Shiing-Jer resigned Friday after taking responsibility for the rapid spread, and President Chen Shui-bian urged Taiwanese to prepare for a long fight against the disease.
"A tiny spark could set off a bush fire," Chen said.
Taiwan's government replaced Twu with a highly respected epidemiologist, Chen Chien-jen, who studied at Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore.
The head of Taiwan's Center for Disease Control, Chen Tzay-jinn, also offered his resignation, but the decision on whether he goes will be up to the new health chief.
Meanwhile, Lee Ming-liang, head of the government's SARS Control Committee, said more infections were expected as the result of the two most recent hospital outbreaks, at Taipei's National Taiwan University Hospital and at Chang Gung in southern Kaohsiung.
Because of the economic damage caused by SARS, the government lowered its 2003 economic growth forecast to 2.89 percent from the forecast of 3.68 percent made in February.
At the Vatican, papal spokesman Joaquin Navarro-Valls said the threat of SARS might scuttle plans for a papal visit to Mongolia, a predominantly Buddhist Asian nation with a Catholic community of less than 200 people.
Navarro-Valls said that decision depends on whether the World Health Organization includes Mongolia on countries at risk.
The WHO warned Saturday against nonessential travel to the northern Chinese province of Hebei because of the spread of SARS there, raising the number of regions on the agency's advisory list to eight.
Singapore's incoming health minister said Saturday that most of the patients with SARS symptoms at a mental hospital have instead tested positive for influenza, putting the city-state on track to soon declare its outbreak of the respiratory disease under control.
Singapore last reported a confirmed SARS case on April 27. If no new cases are reported outside hospitals by Sunday, the city-state will have completed the 20-day period needed for WHO to declare its epidemic under control.
Beijing, the world's hardest hit area, reported four more deaths and 19 cases Saturday, as China's overall total rose to 282 deaths out of 5,219 cases. WHO doctor Daniel Chin, however, warned that the number of cases in Beijing may be higher because of inconsistent hospital records.
China also announced it was suspending foreign adoptions of Chinese babies to help curb SARS. The move left hundreds of prospective American parents in limbo.
"My heart fell to my toes when I read the news," said Pete Uhl of San Antonio.
But he and his wife are determined to press ahead with nearly complete arrangements to adopt a baby girl from China. The indefinite delay, he said Friday, "is just another bump in the road."
About 5,000 Chinese children are adopted by Americans each year, more than from any other foreign country
Sars still has some damage to do...
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