Singapore has begun investigating a possible Malaysian link to its first SARS case in 19 days after narrowly missing a World Health Organization deadline for being officially declared SARS free.
Singapore officials say they are baffled by how the latest Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome (SARS) sufferer - a 39-year-old man who often visited Malaysia - became the 206th victim in Singapore, which has the world's fourth-highest death toll from SARS.
If the critically ill ethnic-Chinese man caught SARS in Malaysia, Singapore could be removed from the WHO's list of SARS hot spots, which also includes China, Hong Kong and Taiwan, said a WHO official in Singapore.
A region must go at least 20 days with no local SARS infections to be declared SARS-free. Singapore missed the deadline by a day, reporting its latest case yesterday.
Now, the nation may have to wait until May 31st to be declared SARS free - 20 days since the man was isolated in hospital on May 11th.
Singapore health officials said they were working with Malaysia, which has seven SARS cases, on the investigation.
Much is at stake for Singapore, where 28 people have died of SARS in three months and whose brush with the illness has frightened away tourists.
Visitor arrivals plunged 67 per cent in April from a year earlier and could tumble 30 to 40 per cent this year, a government official said.
AP