SARS is turning into a global epidemic

BEIJING, April 25 (IslamOnline.net & News Agencies) – With the virus responsible for Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome (SARS) seems spreading too fast for human measures to contain it, and a global death toll rising by the hour, the epidemic is turning into a global plague that needs global cooperation to stop.

In China, and in a further effort to control the raging SARS epidemic, the Beijing government has in three days built a SARS-only hospital capable of handling 350 patients, a building contractor and state press said Friday, April 25, reported Agence France-Presse (AFP).

"According to the contract it should be completely built by tomorrow evening," the contractor with the Beijing Number Six Construction Company told AFP.

"This is a provisional hospital made up of several one-storey homes," said the contractor, named Wang.

Five construction companies were working on the project, the Beijing Daily newspaper said.

The capital has been flooded with SARS patients this week with 103 new cases announced Friday for a total of 877 patients, making it one of the worst hit cities in the world.

Wang said that suspected SARS cases would be housed with one patient per room, while those diagnosed as probable cases would live two to a room. Each room would have separate bathrooms and washrooms.

4,000 People Quarantined At Home
   
Meanwhile, four thousand Beijing residents are being quarantined at home after having close contact with SARS patients, a top Beijing health official revealed Friday.

"We have an estimated 4,000 people. These people had close contact with patients. They're not patients," said Guo Jiyong, deputy director of the Beijing Municipal Health Bureau.

"They're being quarantined at home." Guo did not say how authorities were making sure these people stayed at home.

He said they were in addition to the 877 confirmed SARS patients and 954 suspected SARS victims being kept in Beijing hospitals.

Police Crack Down

Chinese workers disinfect a subway station

In a separate related development, Chinese police in several areas are cracking down on people spreading rumors about SARS and trying to take advantage of the health crisis by making money through scams, state media said Friday.

In southwestern China's Chongqing city, police arrested an employee at a computer company for posting a message on an Internet chat room claiming a district of Beijing had 7,000 to 8,000 SARS patients, the China Police Daily said.

"Beijing disease center - Tongzhou! Patient numbers reach 7,000 to 8,000 people. Number of dead reach 300 people," his message said.

The official toll for the city as of Friday was 42 deaths and 877 confirmed cases.

The Chongqing man was trying to gain attention, the report said, but following a cover-up in which the government for weeks persistently claimed that there were very few cases, many residents now are more willing to believe rumors than the government.

In northern China's Holhot city in Inner Mongolia, police fanned out into the city and found several businesses that were selling medicine claiming to prevent SARS without a business license.

In Hebei province near Beijing, a man who worked for a pharmaceutical company was arrested after police found him selling a variety of medicine he claimed could help prevent people from getting the virus.

Unsure how to protect themselves against the mysterious disease, people in many parts of China are scrambling to buy any kind of medicine that sellers claim will be able to combat SARS.

Six More Deaths In Hong Kong

In Hong Kong, six more people have died after contracting SARS and 22 new cases of the disease have been recorded, the government said Friday.

A total of 115 people have now died in Hong Kong from SARS and 1,510 confirmed cases have been recorded, said a statement from the department of health.

There were another 29 suspected SARS cases, director of health Margaret Chan announced at a press briefing.

The latest deaths included two women and four men aged 35 to 96. Only two males, aged 80 and 82, had a history of chronic illness.

Forty-one patients were discharged, bringing the total who have recovered from SARS to 614, while 105 patients are in intensive care.   

Singapore To Quarantine Foreigners

For its part, Singapore said Friday it would quarantine for 10 days private school students arriving from SARS-affected areas in a bid to control spread of the illness, which has claimed 17 lives in the city-state.

Visitors on professional visit passes issued to foreigners who come to Singapore to work for three months or less will also be quarantined from April 30, the Immigration and Checkpoints Authority (ICA) said.

"This measure is necessary to contain the spread of SARS in Singapore as these groups of foreigners are likely to live and work with the larger community in Singapore," the ICA said in a statement.

"We all have to exercise social responsibility to prevent the spread of SARS in Singapore," it said.

The new measures will also apply to family members who accompany those on professional visit passes, the statement said.

New foreign workers coming from SARS-affected areas are also quarantined for 10 days before they start working here to make sure they do not show symptoms of SARS such as fever and cough.

Singapore has 192 confirmed SARS cases of which 17 have died from the pneumonia-like virus, making the city-state among the worst hit from the health epidemic.

Philippines Protest Over SARS
  
In Manila, the Philippines Friday filed diplomatic protests with Libya over a ban on hiring Filipino workers because of SARS, and with Turkey over a travel advisory related to the illness, the Foreign Secretary said.

Foreign Secretary Blas Ople said he had handed the written protest to the Libyan ambassador after Tripoli Thursday indefinitely suspended the hiring of Filipino contract workers in case they brought SARS into the country.

Another note was handed to the Turkish ambassador protesting an April 11 advisory that urged its nationals against traveling to the Philippines due to SARS.

"Our policy is to protest any actions by countries that will issue an advisory against Filipinos because of SARS," Ople said.

He conceded that there had been some cases of SARS in the Philippines but remarked that "it takes a certain scale for a country to be classified as a SARS-infected country."