Posted on 03/27/2003 6:48:07 AM PST by InShanghai
HONG KONG (Reuters) - Scientists in Hong Kong said on Thursday they had identified the virus behind a mystery pneumonia that has killed more than 50 people worldwide as the government ordered schools in the city to close.
Hong Kong Chief Executive Tung Chee-hwa also said the government had invoked a quarantine law not used for decades, and anyone breaking it would be fined or jailed for up to six months.
A day after Singapore took similar action, Tung said schools would shut for a week from March 29 to try to contain a rapidly spreading pneumonia that has infected about 1,300 in Asia, North America and Europe.
Tung said those exposed to the virus must not go to work or school but must go to a clinic every day to be checked and if found to be ill, to be isolated.
Eleven people have died in Hong Kong from severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS) and 370 are infected. The government said the quarantine will affect more than 1,600 people.
"They must not go to work or to school for 10 days or they will be punished," Tung said as anxiety grew in the city of seven million and tourists canceled holidays.
Those who flout the orders will be fined up to HK$5,000 (US$640) or possibly jailed for up to six months.
British rockers the Rolling Stones, and a huge support staff, postponed two concerts scheduled for this weekend in Hong Kong.
NEW STRAIN OF VIRUS
A group of microbiologists from the University of Hong Kong said a new strain from the family of coronaviruses, which are the second leading cause of colds in humans, was to blame.
The disease is believed to have started in southern China last November and spread to Singapore, Vietnam, Canada, Germany, Japan, the United States, France and Britain, forcing people to drop travel plans.
"Forget about Scud missiles and smart bombs, we could all die if someone with the disease merely coughs," said Shirley Li, a Hong Kong mother who sent her son to school in a surgical mask.
Deutsche Bank economists said the outbreak could cut Hong Kong's gross domestic product growth by 0.4 percentage points this year, and cut retail sales and hotel revenues by two percent and five percent respectively.
Critics and some medical experts in Hong Kong slammed the government's moves as coming too late, saying the virus had already been spreading in the community, making it virtually impossible to find everyone who might have been exposed.
The latest virus finding, confirmed by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (news - web sites), will allow doctors to diagnose the disease in patients much faster.
"It appears to us the coronavirus is the primary cause of the disease," scientist Malik Peirius told reporters. "It is possible of course that other viruses might also infect the same patient and might increase the severity of the disease."
Peirius said the new strain was unlike any known human or animal virus.
Southern China, crowded with humans and livestock and historically the source of many new virus strains, has been identified as the most likely source of the disease.
Compounding fears in Hong Kong was mainland China's announcement on Wednesday that a pneumonia outbreak there was far worse than previously thought, with 31 people dead in southern Guangdong province bordering Hong Kong, and about 800 infected.
Three people have also died in Beijing.
In Singapore, where two people have died and more than 70 have been infected, 861 people have been quarantined at home. Classes have been suspended, affecting 500,000 children.
The outbreak has stirred concern over the economic impact.
"Hotel cancellations have hit 20 to 30 percent over the past week," said Jimmy Koh, head of treasury research at United Overseas Bank in Singapore.
"Although tourism only amounts to two to seven percent of GDP (news - web sites) in Southeast Asian nations, the bigger impact is on the broad retail sector."
Virus-infected cells are inspected under a microscope during a news conference at a Hong Kong hospital March 27, 2003. Scientists in Hong Kong said they had identified a new strain of the coronavirus, which causes the common cold, as the culprit of the killer pneumonia disease which has left more than 50 people dead worldwide. (Reuters - Handout)
I'd expect that if the disease is spreading in China, that'll be known on the rumor conduits before the Chinese government acknowledges it. Let us know if you start hearing rumors.
| China media downplay danger of flu |
| 2003-03-28 / Associated Press / |
|
A day after China disclosed a sharply higher death toll from a mystery respiratory illness, state media played down the danger in sparse reports yesterday that tried to assure the public the disease was contained. Health officials declined to release any new information about the disease that Chinese authorities said Wednesday had killed 34 people by the end of February - three in Beijing and the rest in the southern province of Guangdong. "Atypical pneumonia under control," said a headline in the Beijing Morning Post newspaper above a four-sentence report on page nine that mentioned only the deaths in the Chinese capital. Other newspapers had similarly brief reports, or none at all, while the state television midday news made no mention of the disease. A reporter at the Southern Daily newspaper in the Guangdong provincial capital of Guangzhou said state media had received orders to carry only official statements and avoid independent reporting on the disease. He said newspapers were told to keep reports brief and not to put them on front pages. "They want to focus on one point - that the disease has been brought under control well - and keep other details low profile, in order to avoid public panic," said the reporter, who was contacted by telephone at the newspaper and wouldn't give his name. SARS also has claimed lives in Hong Kong, Vietnam, Canada and Singapore. At least 1,300 people have been sickened. China says its first SARS cases were reported November 16, though authorities didn't disclose them until February. Until Wednesday, the officials had said only five people were dead, and their announcement this week gave no details on when the deaths occurred. Chinese official reluctance to release information earlier fueled a panic in Guangdong and Hong Kong, where people wore surgical masks outdoors and stocked up on antibiotics. People on the street in Beijing said they weren't concerned about the disease, despite rumors about its spread that have been circulating on the Internet and by mobile phone. "What's there to be afraid of? I'm not scared," said Zhao Yu, who was selling fruit outside You'an Hospital, where city health officials said five people were hospitalized with the disease. "If the doctors aren't scared, why should I be? The patients are all inside anyway," Zhao said. Officials of the hospital confirmed that patients were there with SARS but wouldn't give any details. |
I really think the Chinese are going to get blind-sided by this... But in the end, they will survive. Just like the rest of the world.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.