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Latest admission figures

The following is jointly issued by the Department of Health and the Hospital Authority: As at 1pm today (23 Mar 2003), the admission statistics of patients who have been in close contacts with atypical pneumonia patients are as follows: (numbers in brackets are those with symptoms of pneumonia)

A. Staff of Hospitals/Clinics

Staff of Prince of Wales Hospital (PWH) admitted to: PWH 62 (62)

PWH (private doctors) 3 (3)

Kwong Wah Hospital 3 (3)

Princess Margaret Hospital (PMH) 4 (4)

Tseung Kwan O Hospital (TKOH) 1 (1)

Staff of Kwong Wah Hospital (KWH) admitted to: KWH 4 (4) One of the health workers was discharged

Staff of Pamela Youde Nethersole Eastern Hospital (PYNEH) admitted to: PYNEH 7 (7)

Staff of Queen Elizabeth Hospital (QEH) admitted to: QEH 5 (2) One of the health workers was discharged

Staff of a private clinic in Mong Kok admitted to: PMH 4 ( 4)

Tuen Mun Hospital 1 (1)

Staff of a private hospital on HK Island admitted to: PYNEH 3 (3)
Staff of a private hospital in Kowloon admitted to: PMH 7 (7) PYNEH 1 (1)

Total 105 (102)

2 of the health workers were discharged

B. Medical students
Medical students PWH 17 (17)
One of the medical students was discharged

C. Other patients
Patients, patient's family members & visitors PWH, PMH, PYNEH, QEH, TKOH, Queen Mary Hospital & Tuen Mun Hospital 125 (123) 4 of the patients were discharged

Total admissions (A + B + C) 247 (242)

7 were discharged

8 patients with atypical pneumonia died recently in the following public hospitals: KWH (2 patients); PMH (1); PYNEH (1); PWH (4).

The Department of Health's website on atypical pneumonia provides health advice on the prevention of respiratory tract infection and latest information on the cases in English and Chinese

This represents an increase of 25 cases from yesterday's report. -

Update (10) on SARS cases in Singapore

As of 23 Mar 2003, a total of 51 people with SARS have been reported to the Ministry of Health. The 7 additional patients reported today comprise 3 hospital staff and 4 close contacts of patients. 3 patients have been discharged from hospital. The other 48 patients are still in hospital. All the patients are stable except for 9 patients who are in a serious condition.

To date, apart from the 3 initial people who had travelled to Hong Kong, a total of 24 family, friends and those who had close contacts with the cases, and 24 hospital staff have been diagnosed with SARS. So far, all the cases of SARS have been linked to the initial 3 cases. No new index cases have been reported. In addition, no further cases have occurred among hospital staff as a result of infection from known or suspected cases of SARS after the implementation of enhanced infection control precautions.

All suspected and probable cases, including pediatric cases, will be managed centrally at Tan Tock Seng Hospital (TTSH) and the Centre for Communicable Diseases. This will facilitate the management of these patients and reduce the risk of secondary transmission of the disease.

To free up TTSH's resources to isolate and treat all SARS cases, TTSH will not admit new patients for the next 2 weeks. As such, ambulance cases will be diverted to other hospitals and the public is advised to seek accident and emergency care at other hospitals.

HONG KONG (Reuters): Hong Kong researchers said on Saturday they had isolated the virus, found it was new, and designed the first diagnostic test, meaning patients with severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS) can be identified, and therefore treated, much faster.

On Sunday WHO praised the
Hong Kong's team's findings but sounded a note of caution. "The race to identify the SARS causative agent is by no means over. Although the virus has now been isolated, its identity remains elusive," the global body said.

The majority of cases are medical workers who have been in close contact with patients or victims' family members. In Hong Kong health officials said 2 people who worked in the same office as a patient were infected at work. [Other newswire reports have mentioned 3 cases among office workers. We await official news from the Department of Health on these reports. - Mod.MPP]

Authorities in the territory ordered all schools to be disinfected and vowed on Sunday to shut for a week any school with a child or staff member ill with the disease. Education secretary Arthur Li told a news conference he was ordering about 180 children with infected family members to stop attending classes for a week from Monday. Officials say 5 schools have already been ordered shut.

Scientists in Hong Kong, Taiwan, Germany, and Canada identified viruses taken from patients as paramyxoviruses, a large family of microbes that includes germs that cause measles, mumps, and respiratory infections. WHO said other research groups in the network of collaborating labs were producing hints the virus might belong to another family but also expressed hope of bringing the epidemic under control.

The University of Hong Kong researchers said on Saturday they had designed the world's first SARS diagnostic test, which detects a patient's antibodies, which could confirm the diagnosis between 5 and 14 days after infection. Hong Kong doctors have been treating patients with ribavirin -- an anti-virus drug -- and corticosteroids. They say the regimen works for most patients if treated early.

Hong Kong Hospital Authority director Ko Wing-man said on Sunday one more patient had died in Hong Kong, bringing the death toll in the city to 8. The number of infections in Hong Kong rose to 247 on Sunday, including 242 suffering full-blown pneumonia.