Very scary.(COMTEX)B: Nine dead of SARS in Canada; more Ontario cases, WHO monitors
evelopments
B: Nine dead of SARS in Canada; more Ontario cases, WHO monitors developments
TORONTO, Apr 06, 2003 (The Canadian Press via COMTEX) -- The battle to control
SARS continued unabated Sunday, as public health officials in Ontario reported
179 cases, including nine deaths.
That's up from 163 probable and suspected cases Saturday of severe acute
respiratory syndrome. The death toll rose from eight to nine as a death last
week that was being investigated was indeed linked to SARS, said Dr. Colin
D'Cunha, Ontario's chief medical officer of health. Dr. James Young, Ontario's
commissioner of public security, said it took a while to determine that the
patient had SARS because the person did not display all the typical symptoms.
A panel of experts reviewed the person's chart and lab work on Saturday evening.
"We all agreed that in fact this case did represent a SARS case," Young said.
"But we also all agreed that because of very prompt, and we believe very
thorough actions on the part of the Scarborough Centenary Hospital, that in fact
the problem was a very isolated problem that could be dealt with with local
solutions."
Therefore, he said it was possible for the hospital to remain open, instead of
being closed and quarantined like Scarborough Grace Hospital, where the Canadian
outbreak originated, and York Central Hospital in Richmond Hill, Ont.
The officials also repeated their warning to people who visited an east-end
funeral home on the same day as an infectious person.
They're asking anyone who attended a visitation at the Highland Funeral Home on
April 3 to go into isolation, since someone who attended that visitation may
have been infectious, D'Cunha said.
Also Sunday, the World Health Organization reported a global death toll of 98 as
two more people died of SARS in Hong Kong.
Officials at the organization in Geneva are keeping a close eye on SARS
developments in Canada, but aren't telling people to stay away from Toronto at
this point.
"We're fairly certain that in Canada and in Vietnam and in Singapore, the
disease will be contained appropriately and stop transmission," Dr. David
Heymann, the WHO's executive director of communicable diseases, said.
"We're fairly certain of that. But we can never be sure."
Heymann said there are four major outbreaks of severe acute respiratory syndrome
at present: Vietnam, Singapore, Hong Kong and Toronto.
He noted the WHO is in regular contact with the federal government and is
collaborating with Canadian epidemiologists.
His remarks were taped Friday for broadcast Sunday.
Overseas, a Canadian was in a Beijing hospital with severe acute respiratory
syndrome Sunday and a Finnish man became the first foreigner in China to die
from SARS, the country's Health Ministry announced.
Liu Peilong, head of the Health Ministry's Department for International
Co-operation, gave no details about the Canadian's identity or condition and did
not say whether the patient was a resident of Beijing.
Meanwhile, three children from Canada in an Australian hospital with suspected
SARS are improving, a health official said Sunday.
Outside of Ontario, British Columbia has the greatest number of Canadian SARS
cases, but Alberta, Prince Edward Island, New Brunswick and Saskatchewan are
also watching patients.
In Ontario, hospitals outside the Toronto area are in the process of returning
to normal operation, including doing elective surgeries. Public health officials
spent the weekend trying to determine when normal operations can resume at
hospitals in Toronto.
Currently, visits are restricted, many surgeries have been cancelled and staff
must be gowned and masked to protect against SARS.
"People are tired, and of course the longer it goes on, the more tired people
become," Gillian Howard, spokeswoman for the University Health Network - which
encompasses three downtown hospitals - said Sunday.
"We're trying to make sure people, staff members, take some time for themselves
so they don't burn out. I think there's a growing sense of concern about the
people we're not treating for other things."
Dr. Paul Gully of Health Canada told Question Period on Sunday that he agreed
with measures being taken in Toronto to control SARS.
"I think it's important to remember that the actions that have been put in place
are unprecedented, really, and I think are appropriate," he said. "We certainly
agree with what's been done in the greater Toronto area."
Some countries, including Australia and Ireland, have been warning their
citizens to avoid Toronto if at all possible.
Health officials in Great Britain stopped short of that, but urged travellers to
be aware of Canada's situation, the symptoms and "the fact that they may be
screened prior to air travel."
A host of other countries, including Austria, Singapore, Malaysia, Jamaica,
Spain and Taiwan, have warned residents to avoid non-essential travel to
Toronto. Trinidad, Guyana and the Caribbean islands of St. Vincent and the
Grenadines also joined their ranks Saturday.
Meanwhile, a poll released Saturday suggested that Canadians are concerned about
SARS, and many have changed their habits to protect themselves from the
potentially deadly disease.
Eleven per cent said they were cancelling travel plans to protect themselves,
nine per cent said they were cancelling medical appointments and another nine
per cent were avoiding public transit.
The online source for news sports entertainment finance and business news in Ca
ada
Copyright (C) 2003 The Canadian Press (CP), All rights reserved
-0-
KEYWORD: TORONTO
SUBJECT CODE: national
*** end of story *** |
