Barbara Carroll, NewsMax.com
and NewsMax.com Wires
Friday, April 25, 2003

Guo Jiyong, deputy director general of the Beijing Health Bureau, said all of the people under the order had had intimate contact with people showing symptoms of SARS.

The increase in SARS cases and deaths in Beijing over past few days has resulted in panic shopping and fears of the city being sealed off.

Cai Fuchao, director of the Publicity Department of the Communist Party Central Committee, denied rumors that Beijing's roads and airports were being closed.

"I solemnly point out here that there is no such thing as closing the airport links or highways or martial law in Beijing," he said. "These kinds of rumors are out of ulterior motives, and they are not based on fact."

Beijing has tightened its quarantine procedures. Thursday, officials sealed off the People's Hospital, located directly across from the headquarters of the embattled Ministry of Health.

Panic in the Streets

Thousands of Beijing residents are leaving town in a hurry, crowding onto trains, causing train fares to soar, with standing room only on some routes. Traffic jams of vehicles fill the streets.

Staples such as grains, vegetables and eggs are selling for 50 percent more in some stores that are now running short on items. All of this because of SARS.

Officially reported cases jumped by 89, the highest number of new cases yet seen in the war on SARS. There have been 774 cases so far in Beijing with 39 deaths.

Many businesses have pulled out their employees to work in branches in other cities. According to the Financial Times, the Industrial and Commercial Bank of China, the country's largest bank, is operating with a drastically reduced workforce.

All of this is happening in the wake of rumors that the city will be quarantined by the People's Liberation Army, with no one allowed out or in for a undetermined period of time.

Towns 'Disinfected'

The army has begun to "disinfect" villages outside the city. These small towns will be isolated until inhabitants are shown to be healthy. Signs around the area say: "Emergency anti-Sars mobilisation. No outsiders or taxi drivers allowed in."

More than 21 provinces of China are reporting cases of SARS, including the first case in Anhui, about 125 miles west of Shanghai on the Yangzi River. The cumulative number of SARS deaths in China is 110. Guangdong has the highest number of probable cases, 1,359, followed by Beijing.

A report by World Health Organization states, "The number of reported cases in Beijing is increasing on a daily basis." Elementary schools and middle schools were closed early for May Day holidays. There are 135 suspected or confirmed cases among students. Teachers and parents are to report any symptoms in children and to keep suspected cases of SARS away from school.

Shanghai Secrets

In contrast to the furious activity in Beijing, Shanghai is still denying there are more than two cases. WHO's team of experts has been visiting the city's hospitals and the Shanghai Centre for Disease Control this week.

The Straits Times states that there may be as many as 90 SARS cases in Shanghai. Once more, the Chinese are not reporting cases in military hospitals.

While in Beijing, inspecting military hospitals, WHO's team was not allowed to discuss details of what it saw without approval from the Ministry of Defense. This outdated secrecy in China's military policy undermines the effectiveness of its health organizations.

The Chinese Politburo insists on tighter regulations to contain the virus and more honest reporting of cases, but each day brings new information of cover-up. Old secrecy policies die hard. Military hospitals are not obliged by Chinese law to report cases to health authorities.

The disease is spreading to poorer regions - one case confirmed in Ningxia on the edge of the Gobi Desert, with 87 cases in the coal-mining province of Shanxi, where seven more deaths have occurred.

Shanxi, one of the previously unreported provinces with the disease, accounts for 10 percent of China's fatalities.

Treatment for SARS is expensive and prolonged, with a need for drugs, expert health workers and the containment equipment to protect them. Respirators are needed for some patients in the later stages of the disease as the virus affects the lungs.

"When I think about the long term, I'm more concerned about those provinces who do not have the financial rescues or the human resources to deal with SARS," said Henk Bekedam, a WHO official in Beijing. "We're concerned that China has not really invested in its health care system, and now the system is being tested when the system is not really ready."

Going to Canada? Got Your Yellow Card?

Customs and border guards will be handing out 25,000 little yellow cards every day, and passengers on each plane headed for Toronto will receive the cards. The cards give warnings about SARS, its symptoms and practical advice to travelers in Toronto. The Department of Homeland Security is participating in this effort.

The cards are part of a travel warning issued by the World Health Organization. "WHO is now recommending that persons planning to travel to Beijing and Shanxi Province, China, and to Toronto, Canada consider postponing all but essential travel to these destinations."

Canadians are enraged. They consider this a "scarlet letter" and want a withdrawal of the warning.

Toronto is already suffering from a huge loss of business from canceled conferences and lack of tourism. Millions have been lost as planes arrive half-empty and restaurants, hotels and shops are only lightly booked as the high season begins. The warning issued Wednesday is adding to the economic losses.

News Canada reports, "Figures show business travel has dropped 20 per cent, Chinese businesses have lost up to 80 per cent of customers, while downtown retail stores were down as much as 30 per cent."

The WHO document adds: "The outbreak in this area has continued to grow in magnitude and has affected groups outside the initial risk groups of hospital workers, their families and other close person-to-person contacts. In addition, a small number of persons with SARS, now in other countries in the world, appear to have acquired the infection while in Toronto.

"On the basis of this information, WHO is also including Toronto in the extension of its SARS-related travel advice. This advice will be re-examined in three weeks time, which is twice the maximum incubation period. In many countries, prompt detection and isolation of initial cases have prevented further transmission altogether or held additional cases to a very small number."

WHO defended its position by showing the dramatic halt in cases in Vietnam due to stringent methods in health care. "In Vietnam, certainly, the disease has been brought under control ... We have not had any new cases ... for over 10 days," said Dr. Julie Hall, coordinator for WHO's global outbreak alert and response unit.

Why Won't the U.S. Warn of Toronto?

The U.S. is not issuing a travel warning. In response to this decision by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Dr. Julie Gerberding, director of the CDC, spoke of "high-caliber cooperation" the Canadian health department was giving WHO and the CDC. "We think that the information we have right now is allowing us to continue with our current strategy."

Gerberding explained in a press briefing yesterday afternoon that SARS cases in Toronto were limited to health workers, their patients and close contacts with family members and friends. The CDC believes that common-sense measures such as washing hands with soap and water and avoiding people and places such as health facilities with SARS are sufficient.

From a report published by Health Canada: "Sixteen people have died from SARS in Toronto. There have been 327 probable or suspect cases."

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