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To: 4figureau who wrote (4249)	4/30/2003 9:31:30 AM
From: 4figureau	Respond to of 5423

Nearly 10,000 Quarantined in SARS-Panicked Beijing Reuters Wednesday, April 30, 2003; 12:46 AM By Juliana Liu and Amran Abocar BEIJING/TORONTO (Reuters) - Beijing, acknowledging mass panic had hit the SARS-infected city, quarantined more residents on Wednesday, but Toronto was jubilant after a warning against travel to Canada's financial capital was lifted. Nearly 10,000 people in the Chinese capital were under quarantine after the city confined residents of one building in the heart of the capital and another in a northern suburb, state media said. Beijing has been the hardest-hit area in the world, with nearly 1,350 reported cases of Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome and 66 deaths. Acting Mayor Wang Qishan said there had been panic in Beijing, which has seen frenzied buying of medicines and staple foods, and that the virus was threatening to overwhelm the health-care system. "It is easy to say there has been mass panic among citizens due to the highly infectious nature of the disease and the complicated epidemic situation," Wang said in his first meeting with foreign journalists since taking office. "As the panic of the public has not yet been alleviated, a great deal of work is needed to ensure social stability." He said the city was taking "decisive" steps to contain the disease. Canada, the only country outside Asia where people have died of the flu-like virus that has no cure, also promised tougher steps, including screening of its airports. "We are delighted with the World Health Organization's latest decision," Ontario Health Minister Tony Clement said. "And we certainly know that our vigilance must not stop." The original WHO decision advising against travel to Toronto aroused a storm of protest from Canada, which saw the warning hitting its national economy. Health officials expect travelers to continue spreading the scourge in an increasingly interconnected world and say the disease -- and others like it -- is likely to become endemic. It is "increasingly unlikely" that SARS will go away, said Dr Julie Gerberding, director of the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. She added other diseases would emerge the way SARS did. "We can anticipate doing this again and again." SARS has infected nearly 5,800 people in 29 countries, killing at least 354 around the world. CHINA LEARNED LESSON Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao told reporters on Tuesday in Bangkok, where Asian leaders met to plot their fight against the virus, he was confident SARS could be controlled eventually. "There is a need for us to recognize the fact that the SARS epidemic is going to be a long-term, a complex and relapsing epidemic," said Wen. China, harshly criticized for covering up the disease initially, had learned its lesson, Wen said, adding that reporting of cases had improved and the WHO was welcome to send teams to any hospital in China. At their Bangkok summit, Asian leaders adopted a six-point plan to control the SARS outbreaks, including rigorous screenings of international travelers, a SARS hot line and an exchange of research about the disease. Health ministers from South Asian countries adopted similar measures at a meeting in the Maldives on Tuesday and their counterparts from the European Union planned an emergency meeting next week. Leaders of the 10-member Association of South East Asian Nations, along with China and Hong Kong, were encouraged that the WHO thought the virus was peaking in Singapore, Hong Kong, Vietnam and Canada. But Singapore said it was too early to say its outbreak had peaked and warned of more unemployment as tourism plunges. Hong Kong said it expected arrivals to plummet by 70 percent in April. Tourism accounts for six percent of its economy. China has reported 148 SARS deaths and more than 3,300 cases since SARS first appeared in southern Guangdong province in November. Health experts suspect the actual tally in China could be far higher. The WHO has slapped travel advisories on Beijing and other parts of China as well as Hong Kong. President Bush's chief economic adviser, Stephen Friedman, said in Washington he hoped SARS would have a limited effect on the U.S. economy, although he said it remained a potent threat. (Additional reporting by Maggie Fox in Washington, Jason Szep in Singapore, Chris Johnson in Bangkok, Carrie Lee in Hong Kong) washingtonpost.com