Posted on 04/06/2003 6:22:38 PM PDT by Lessismore
The rate of new infections in the viral pneumonia outbreak accelerated further yesterday as the death toll rose by two.
Two women, aged 71 and 68, died in Princess Margaret Hospital and Prince of Wales Hospital respectively, taking the toll to 22 after three patients died on Saturday. The government announced 42 new cases, up from 39 on Saturday and 27 on Friday.
In other developments:
The Jockey Club confirmed that a staff member in its Sha Tin headquarters contracted the disease last month but said there was no need to close the racecourse.
Fear spread through Tuen Mun Hospital after a doctor was infected by a patient who concealed the fact that he lived at Amoy Gardens where more than 250 people have been stricken by the mystery virus.
119 flights, or 22 per cent of yesterday's scheduled flight movements, were cancelled.
A Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome (SARS) sufferer who had refused to be taken for treatment gave up after barricading himself in his flat for 15 hours.
Of the 42 new cases announced yesterday, nine are healthcare workers and 11 are from Amoy Gardens. The remaining 22 were new patients or contacts of patients.
Nine patients were discharged yesterday, bringing the total number of patients who have recovered from SARS to 116, while 108 patients are in intensive care.
A Jockey Club spokesman said yesterday a member of its properties department on the ninth floor of its office building was confirmed to have SARS on March 26.
He refused to say whether the source of the infection was from inside outside the office, saying only that the ninth floor was sealed off and disinfected immediately. All the department's staff were now on leave.
He said there was no need to seal off the racecourse because the office building was some distance from the from the public stand.
Yesterday's race meeting went ahead on schedule but virus fears slashed the attendance to 18,324, about 45 per cent lower than the 34,623 for the previous Sunday meeting on March 23. The lowest Sha Tin attendance was 13,237 on March 29.
The club said it had told staff who live at Amoy Gardens or near the Prince of Wales Hospital in Sha Tin - also badly affected by the virus - to stay away from work. Three other Jockey Club staff have been confirmed with the disease - a worker in the membership section who was infected last month while on leave and two betting centre staff.
Medical staff at Tuen Mun Hospital are on the alert for more infections after urgent checks, conducted when a patient revealed he lived at Amoy Gardens, found a doctor had been infected. The patient had been admitted to a general medical ward on the fifth floor after coming to the accident and emergency department with influenza symptoms on April 1.
He did not disclose for two days that he lived at the disease-hit estate.
Meanwhile the Department of Health said officials might break into six flats in Block E of Amoy Gardens where the residents had not yet been contacted so the flats could be disinfected. The department has contacted 107 of the 113 households from Block E - worst-hit in the estate - since its residents were ordered into quarantine camps last week.
If the remaining six do not contact the department by 5pm on Thursday officials may break in.
The department is also still looking for five people who had close contact with SARS patients but have not reported to clinics.
At Chek Lap Kok, the Airport Authority expects a 14 per cent reduction in total flight movements this month. ``The outbreak of SARS and the Iraqi war have dampened passenger traffic, particularly in the past few days,'' the authority said in a statement yesterday.
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