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To: energyplay who wrote (32025)	4/21/2003 7:50:22 PM
From: TobagoJack	Respond to of 74559

Hello energyplay, Some school folks in some schools are ill. A side benefit from all this disaster is that calls for RMB appreciation has vaporized from all quarters. Between SARS and RMB devaluation (due to embrace of USD which is going down), SE Asia/Taiwan/Japan/Korea industry should continue to vaporize while their population cower within own borders. scmp.com Tuesday, April 22, 2003 109 new cases in Beijing outbreak MICHAEL JEN-SIU, JOSEPHINE MA, AGENCE FRANCE-PRESSE and REUTERS in Beijing The grip of the atypical pneumonia outbreak tightened on the mainland yesterday, with 109 new cases recorded in Beijing and three more provinces reporting infections or deaths. There are now 448 confirmed cases in Beijing, where until Sunday officials had maintained there were only 37. An additional two fatalities were reported in the capital, raising the death toll to 20. As of yesterday there were 1,959 confirmed infections on the mainland, including 132 new cases reported yesterday. Reuters reports quoting Xinhua early this morning said the figure had reached 2,001 cases and 92 deaths nationwide. The new party boss of the Health Ministry, Gao Qiang, has warned that the number of Sars cases would leap in the coming few days as suspected infections were confirmed. There were 402 suspected cases reported on Sunday, but Beijing officials have not made it clear as to how many of yesterday's cases came from that total. WHO experts yesterday said they believed at least half of the initial 402 suspected cases would eventually be confirmed as severe acute respiratory syndrome. The political fall-out from earlier mishandling of the crisis continued to spread yesterday, with newspapers carrying self-criticism written by Beijing Party Secretary Lui Qi. His public claims of responsibility follow the sackings on Sunday of health minister Zhang Wenkang and Beijing Mayor Meng Xuenong. Jeffrey McFarland, a WHO infectious disease doctor stationed in Beijing, said mainland health authorities needed to provide a better breakdown of where the new cases were coming from and when the patients were diagnosed. If they did, he said: "The WHO could provide advice and work as a colleague. We have real expertise in this field. We can mobilise international consultants." Following warnings that officials who hid Sars cases would be penalised, provincial governments rushed to update their reports. Previously unannounced Sars deaths were reported in several provinces - one each in Inner Mongolia and Guangdong, and two in Tianjin, according to official figures released to WHO officials. The health authority in Shanxi said that as of last Saturday nine people had died from Sars, two more than previously stated. Shanxi reported 111 cases, as opposed to the figure of 108 issued by the central government on Sunday. Xinhua added that three cases had been reported in Jilin province and one in Liaoning province. The China News Service said two cases had also been recorded in Gansu province. There had been no previous reports of Sars infections in Tianjin, Liaoning or Gansu. Inner Mongolia and Shanxi, where authorities fear the lack of medical infrastructure could lead to problems if Sars infections become widespread, announced that all schools would be closed until mid-May. To contain the disease, mainland residents will have their Labour Day holiday cut to three days in addition to the weekend. In the past, the holiday was for a full week. Meanwhile, the government began spending money on Sars-control initiatives, backing up a pledge made on Sunday to allocate whatever resources were needed to control the outbreak. The newspaper Health News, published by the Health Ministry, said the government will put 900 million yuan (HK$849 million) into Sars prevention in China's poorer western regions. President Hu Jintao issued another order yesterday to halt the coverup of Sars cases, one of several he has made in the past week. Mr Hu said that the government was concerned with the spread of Sars to new areas of the country.