CHINA: Rumours swirl around Beijing and public confidence has slumped. Popular restaurants are becoming empty, and many try to avoid using the metro and bus system.
Flights from Beijing Airport are being cancelled or merged as passenger numbers decline. Many waiting for their flights prefer to do so in the open so as to avoid sharing the same air inside the terminal.
A shattering picture of incompetence and cover-up in the face of the SARS epidemic was revealed to the Chinese people yesterday in an unprecedented statement.
Revising upwards by nearly 10 times the figures for confirmed cases in the capital, a senior official admitted that the Health Ministry had failed to cope with the emergency.
The real figure only came to light when China's ruling state council - the government cabinet - sent a special team to investigate. Members of the team "went to hospitals in Beijing one after another to check the number of SARS cases and register cases", explained the deputy Health Minister, Mr Gao Qiang.
Mr Gao spoke as if there are no phones, faxes or e-mails in the capital: it needed "a week's hard work" before the correct number could be established.
Backed by a decision to postpone next week's May Day holiday, when millions travel around the country, the move will be welcomed as a belated sign of serious commitment to tackle the deadly disease.
Beijing's belated admission only came after a courageous whistle-blowing doctor, Dr Jiang Yanyong, revealed that hundreds of cases in the city's military hospitals were being covered up.
China's new leaders, President Hu Jintao and Mr Wen Jiabao, the Prime Minister, finally appeared in public to acknowledge that the situation was "grave".
Precautions are especially widespread among Shanghai's 50,000-strong foreign community: it is better to wave goodbye than to shake hands. Some reschedule their work to travel by metro at empty times, others go by taxi and fling open the windows.
Many Shanghainese have until recently believed the official claim that there were only two cases" in the city of 13.5 million and take pride in continuing to act as normal.
"It's a question of attitude," explained one taxi-driver. "As long as you keep healthy, it's not a problem. Drinking soup made out of garlic and milk will also help."
Now more face masks are appearing, especially outside hospitals, indicating a lack of confidence in the official figures, and on public transport.
Cancellation of the May Day holiday will throw offices, businesses and public transport into confusion; elaborate plans had been made for weekend working so everyone could then take time off, and extra trains and buses were prepared.
However, the government is not going to repeat the disastrous mistake of three months ago when millions travelled without any controls from Guangdong, the epicentre of the virus, to celebrate the Chinese new year.
The initial SARS cover-up was broken briefly in mid-February, after the holiday was over, to admit the existence of the previously unknown virus in Guangdong. Then silence was reimposed in the run-up to and during last month's National People's Congress, China's annual parliament, in Beijing.
Even today the media are under instructions to ensure their reports do not "damage social stability".
In Shanghai, posters on SARS prevention were posted on neighbourhood bulletin boards, a major source of information, only 10 days ago. They offered simple health tips such as avoiding crowded places, not sharing food utensils, taking exercise and ensuring good ventilation.
Yet they failed to condemn public health hazards such as spitting in the streets or the widespread habit of urinating in public places.
When the SARS crisis began to escalate a month ago, the now-disgraced health minister, Mr Zhang Wenkang, and other officials displayed a mixture of bluster and bravado which is the traditional response of Chinese bureaucrats to bad news.
At a press conference on April 3rd the chairman denounced the foreign media for irresponsible reporting, and Mr Zhang told journalists he was "confident that all of you sitting here are safe, whether or not you are wearing masks".
The crisis is an early test for Mr Hu and Mr Wen who waited for several weeks before publicly intervening as the virus spread and China's image worsened abroad.
There is speculation that Beijing's sluggish response to the crisis may partly reflect the lingering influence of Mr Jiang. Mr Zhang has been close to Mr Jiang since the 1980s, when he was his health adviser in Shanghai.