Posted on 05/26/2003 4:58:12 AM PDT by Judith Anne
TAIPEI, Taiwan (AP) - Toronto was back on the map of SARS trouble spots Monday after health officials there confirmed eight new cases. In Taiwan, the health chief for the island's capital resigned to take responsibility for a SARS outbreak at a hospital
The United States issued a new travel alert for Toronto, which thought it had shaken severe acute respiratory syndrome and had launched a campaign to lure American tourists back to Canada's largest city.
Toronto officials also announced three SARS deaths, bringing the world's toll Monday to at least 721.
More than 8,100 people have been infected since the disease emerged in November in China's southern Guangdong province. China's mainland and its territory Hong Kong account for the vast majority of cases and deaths.
Taiwan reported 15 new cases Monday, bringing its total infections to 585, including 72 deaths.
Taipei's health chief, Chiu Shu-ti, resigned late Sunday night, taking the blame for last month's SARS outbreak at the capital's Hoping Hospital. The facility was the source for most of the island's SARS infections.
Chiu, known as an iron lady for her dedication to work and swift action, had offered to quit soon after the city-run hospital was sealed off April 24 to contain infections. But Mayor Ma Ying-jeou asked her to stay. Chiu offered to resign again, saying the Taipei outbreak was under control and her work complete.
"After a long talk, I decided to let her retreat from the frontline," Taipei's mayor told reporters.
The eight new cases announced in Toronto were linked to outbreaks at hospitals, and officials insisted there was no transmission of the disease to ordinary Canadians.
"We still see no evidence of community transmission of this disease," said Dr. Colin D'Cunha, chief medical officer of health for Ontario province.
One of the new cases was a 96-year-old man who died. Health officials said they believe the man was the index, or first case, of the new cluster. He was in North York General Hospital, where health officials say he may have infected health care workers, other patients and their family members in one ward in late April.
A patient transferred from the ward to St. John's Rehabilitation Hospital was considered the likely source of four more cases under investigation, they said.
In Singapore, visitor arrivals fell by 73 percent in the first three weeks of May but the city-state's tourism chief predicted Monday that business will recover in June if there are no new SARS cases.
Hong Kong, which has suffered 266 SARS deaths, reported only one new infection over the weekend. With life edging toward normal, thousands of people went out for walks Sunday, and many took off surgical masks after weeks of wearing them.
In China, volunteers and officials in Beijing handed out "spit bags" and tissue packets Sunday, intensifying a public health campaign aimed at preventing the spread of SARS in the capital, where tens of thousands of people remain under quarantine.
Gobs of saliva are a common sight on the streets of Beijing, where at least 167 people have died of SARS and almost 2,500 people have been infected. Warning that spit might spread the virus that causes SARS, Beijing and other cities have increased fines and sent sanitation workers out on patrol to stop spitting in public.
In other SARS developments:
- The Asian Development Bank said Monday it has approved $4 million in grants to fight the spread of SARS in China and the Asia-Pacific region. A $2 million grant to China, which has been the worst hit, to help prevent cross-border transmission of the disease. The remaining $2 million will be dispersed throughout the region.
- In Thailand, Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra's Cabinet met at a luxury resort hotel in Phuket to discuss ways to rescue the country's sinking tourism industry. Thailand has only had two SARS deaths and officials say none of its SARS cases were contracted locally.
Hello again my friend. I don't believe Thai officials are telling the whole truth about the matter. Later, all will know. Wonder how I know to challenge the veracity of statements by Thai officials?
Probably phlegm.
Here, let the excerpt from the story below reveal the truth.
Equally troubling, Wang and another nurse, Lo Wen-ling, 27, claim that a more senior nurse in their intestinal-disease ward instructed them to list suspected SARS patients as suffering from "pneumonia." They say they were also ordered not to tell the patients' families that the true diagnosis was believed to be SARS. If contacted by the media, adds Lo, she was ordered to say that "there were no SARS patients in Hoping." These instructions, claims Wang, were said to have come from "high up"?meaning upper management.
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