Mass Quarantines Continue in China as SARS Deaths Slow Worldwide

May 5, 2003

China took strict measures to contain the SARS outbreak in its capital, placing close to 16,000 people under quarantine as further deaths were recorded in Asia and evidence emerged that the virus can survive on common surfaces for hours.

China also sacked officials nationwide for failing to implement tough measures to contain the deadly disease as the health ministry reported seven new deaths from the pneumonia-like respiratory illness and 163 new infections. There are now some 197 dead and 4,125 confirmed or probable cases in the world's most populous country.

The capital city Beijing has borne the brunt of the epidemic in China, with 100 deaths and at least 1,803 known cases.

Health authorities, an estimated 15,873 people had been quarantined in the capital as of Sunday morning -- up 825 from Saturday's figures.

Those ordered quarantined are either infected with SARS, suspected of being infected, showing SARS symptoms or having had contact with SARS patients. Authorities also quarantined a third construction site in the capital.

China's poorly-funded and overtaxed medical system, particularly in Beijing, a city of 13 million people, has been struggling to cope with the epidemic, which is suspected to have originated in the southern Chinese province of Guangdong and spread globally, infecting 6,407 people and killing at least 449 people.

State media reported Sunday that 10 officials in Longnan county, southern Jiangxi province, were sacked or disciplined for failing to implement SARS-related health policies, while five officials in central Anhui's Fuyang city were fired or disciplined for similar violations.

An official in Chaoyang city, northeastern Liaoning province, was sacked for failing to implement quarantine measures and monitoring the return of migrant workers from Beijing, while the head of the People's Hospital in Zhumadian city, Henan province was also fired.

Even in southern Hainan province, which has not reported any cases of SARS, the province's health bureau chief and several hospital directors were sacked or disciplined for failing to implement SARS-prevention measures.

In Hong Kong -- the worst hit location outside of mainland China -- five more SARS fatalities and eight new cases were reported Sunday, pushing the toll there to 184 deaths and 1,629 infections.

Officials breathed a sigh of relief when 10 crew members of a Malaysian cargo ship that anchored off the territory after the government received a distress call from the vessel were found not to have SARS.

The crew had shown SARS-like symptoms including a cough, fever and aching joints but were later determined not to have Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome.

As global research into the mysterious pneumonia-like illness continued, the Washington Post reported that the SARS virus can survive for hours on common surfaces outside the human body, and up to four days in human waste, evidence that may explain Hong Kong's particularly bad outbreak at a housing estate.

Scientific studies found the virus can survive for at least 24 hours on a plastic surface at room temperature, and can live for extended periods in the cold, the studies found.

"It's the first time we have hard data on the survival of the virus. Before, we were just speculating," said Klaus Stohr, the top researcher into the mystery virus for the World Health Organization.

"These studies are very important for designing strategies for cleaning and disinfecting."

The new data suggest that infection can occur simply from touching a contaminated table or doorknob, the report said.

They shed light, too, on how the disease may have spread in a 33-storey apartment building in Hong Kong where hundreds were infected.

Scientists found that the disease persists in adult faeces for six hours but in human diarrhea for up to four days, and now suspect it was spread at the Amoy Gardens complex by a SARS-infected man with diarrhea, via a crack in a sewage pipe.

Outside of China, SARS deaths and infections appear to be stablilising. Singapore and Taiwan reported one new SARS death each on Sunday, bringing their respective death tolls to 26 and eight, though Singaporean officials said they had included one non-SARS related fatality in its toll.

In Taiwan, two reporters from Hong Kong Next magazine's Taiwan edition who were placed in quarantine for two weeks after pretending to be SARS patients face a penalty of up to three years in jail for gathering news from a hospital closed because of the SARS epidemic.

The two posed as patients at the Taipei Municipal Hospital which was ordered closed due to a SARS outbreak, the Taipei city government said.

In India, 23 Australians have been quarantined after two of their fellow travellers were hospitalised as suspected SARS cases.

And Malaysia Sunday ruled out a travel ban on its citizens to Singapore and other SARS-affected nations as it reported a seventh probable SARS patient and two new suspected cases.

SARS continues to have lingering economic effects in Asia, most specifically in China, where authorities decided Sunday to cancel an international trade fair scheduled for the southwestern province of Sichuan.

The cancellation follows a decision at the weekend to move both the world cycling championships and the women's World Cup football tournament from China due to the epidemic, for which there is no known cure or vaccine

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