CHINA: China has begun implementing draconian quarantine measures to try to curb the spread of the pneumonia-like SARS virus.
Whole villages have been sealed off, along with a 1,200-bed hospital complex in Beijing reported to have more than 100 infected patients.
Thousands of people continued to take trains and planes out of Beijing, where another four deaths were announced.
The move came a day after the World Health Organisation (WHO) sounded an alert about the situation in China's second city, Shanghai.
A WHO expert, Dr Wolfgang Peiser, who is visiting the city, said yesterday he believed there were tens of SARS cases there, rather than the two officially confirmed cases.
Reported new cases of SARS in the southern Chinese province where the disease is believed to have originated five months ago are starting to fall, WHO said, although it remained worried about the overall situation
"We are obviously concerned, particularly about Beijing and Shanxi and Guangdong provinces, about the amount of transmission of SARS in those areas and as a result of that we put out a travel advisory to avoid non-essential travel to those three provinces," said Dr Julie Hall, of WHO's Global Outbreak, Alert and Response Network.
"What we've seen in Guangdong is that the number of new, reported cases is starting to slow," she said, without giving figures. "So there is certainly room for optimism, room for hope when it comes to looking at what is happening in China. But there's a long way to go yet.
"There are still concerns over a number of areas in China and the risk that that poses to the healthcare systems, to the residents in those areas and to international travellers and to international spread."
SARS has infected 4,630 people worldwide and killed around 261, according to reports by WHO officials and national health authorities.
She added that 60 people had been placed under observation for 10 days in the Philippines after coming into contact with a person who had flown to that country from Toronto and had been infected by SARS.
"These people are at the moment showing no signs of SARS," she said. "But what it shows is how one person, one case, could potentially spread the disease to a considerable number of people."
In addition to the 60 people under observation, there was one person in the Philippines who was a "probable" case after having come into contact with the infected person, she said.
Hong Kong's government widened its quarantine net to include people exposed to suspected, as well as confirmed, SARS sufferers.
The city also extended a closure of primary schools and announced plans to step up border checks, as the SARS death toll in the city rose by four to 109.
Some recently diagnosed patients did not display typical SARS symptoms, raising concern about the ability of authorities to quickly identify others exposed to the virus.
Hong Kong has banned 787 close contacts of confirmed SARS patients from leaving home for 10 days. Under the widened quarantine net, another 60-70 people would initially be confined at home.
The Hong Kong government announced 30 more infections, taking the total to 1,488 in the worst-hit centre outside mainland China.
The first possible case of the illness was identified in Bulgaria, its health ministry said. The patient in question showed symptoms after returning to Bulgaria from a long visit to Toronto, Canada. The patient has been hospitalised and is in good condition, the ministry said.