ASIA: Asian governments quarantined more people and increased health checks yesterday as they attempted to contain a deadly and highly contagious pneumonia virus that has killed 54 people worldwide and infected around 1,500.
Singapore nearly doubled the number of people ordered to stay home to 1,514 as it tried to break the cycle of the deadly severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS) virus, which has claimed two lives there.
It is also blamed for 34 deaths in China, 11 in Hong Kong, four in Vietnam and three in Canada.
"We're facing an unprecedented situation, this is a 9/11 [September 11th\] for health, and we're not going to go back to the pre-SARS situation for some time.
"We're in for the long haul," Singapore Health Minister Mr Lim Hng Kiang said.
Thailand and South Korea became the latest countries to issue travel warnings, urging their citizens to avoid visiting China, Hong Kong, Singapore and Vietnam - worst hit by the disease - until the health crisis was brought under control.
The epidemic has forced the cancellation of concerts, holidays and business travel to many parts of Asia, in a blow to the region's already sickly economies.
A Singapore analyst said lost retail sales and hotel bookings would cost the city $1.1 billion if the crisis lasted three months, but others accused the region of over-reacting.
"They're bombing Iraq and you still see people walking around on the street out there," Chinese businessman Wang Junyao, head of a private dairy company, said. "And the foreign media says you shouldn't go to China?"
China, where the virus emerged late last year, has been accused of hiding the problem but the World Health Organisation said the country had now agreed to make detailed daily reports.