Singapore - 740 people quarantined, 14 new cases on Monday, Hospitals close, SARS spreads

AP ^ | 03-24-03 | D'arcy Doran

[Mother Abigail]

Posted on Mon, Mar. 24, 2003

Singapore Quarantines More Than 700

D'ARCY DORAN

Associated Press

SINGAPORE - Singapore's government on Monday ordered about 740 people who may have been exposed to victims of a mysterious flu-like illness to stay home for 10 days in a bid to contain the disease.

Health Minister Lim Hng Kiang said he was invoking the Infectious Diseases Act for what could be the first time since Singapore gained independence in 1965.

The city state of 4 million people has recorded 65 cases of severe acute respiratory syndrome, or SARS, including 14 new cases reported on Monday, Lim said. Twelve patients are in serious condition in an intensive care unit, he added.

"The number in ICU will increase, unfortunately, and there may be fatalities," Lim told reporters. "A stronger wall is now created to break the chain of infection," he said.

Any quarantined person caught outside their home could face a fine of up to $2,825 for a first infraction and $10,000 for a second offense, officials said.

Those on the quarantine list include people who may have had exposure to infected people, including children at a school and a daycare, which will be closed for the duration of the quarantine.

Entire households will be quarantined and the government plans to arrange to deliver groceries to them and compensate people who could suffer financial difficulties due to lost income, Lim said.

National Environment Agency officers will monitor the quarantined people daily, checking for symptoms of the disease, the health ministry said in a statement. SARS has made 386 people around the world ill and killed 11 people in the past three weeks, according to WHO figures. Experts suspect it is linked to an earlier outbreak of an unidentified disease in China, where officials say 305 people have fallen ill and five have died.

As part of efforts to further isolate patients, Singapore's Tan Tock Seng Hospital, which houses the Communicable Diseases Center, will now only admit patients suspected of having the disease, the minister said over the weekend. Other patients have been transferred to affiliated hospitals.

[Mother Abigail]

Attention News/Health Editors:

Toronto EMS Paramedic ambulance services will not be affected by temporary closure of Scarborough Hospital - Grace Division emergency department

TORONTO, March 23 /CNW/ -

Emergency Medical Services -

Toronto Emergency Medical Services announced today that its regular paramedic ambulance services to the public will not be affected by the decision of Scarborough Hospital - Grace Division to close its emergency department temporarily in order to provide an appropriate level of care for patients suspected of having Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome
(SARS). Dr. Colin D'Cunha, Ontario's Commissioner of Public Health, announced the closure today during his SARS update.

"Toronto EMS has considerable experience in redistributing patient calls during the temporary emergency department closures that occur from time to time, most recently in December during the outbreak of the Norwalk-like virus," said Peter Macintyre, Manager, Community Safeguard Services. "Emergency Medical Dispatchers will direct paramedic crews to the closest available facility during the temporary closure of the Scarborough Hospital - Grace Division ED."

[Mother Abigail]

For next 2 weeks: TTSH won't take in new patients, A&E also closed By Li-Ann Wee TAN Tock Seng Hospital (TTSH) is not where you would go in the next fortnight, unless you suspect you may be coming down with the severe acute respiratory syndrome (Sars). The 1,500-bed hospital is not admitting new patients for the next two weeks, so that resources can be used more effectively to isolate and treat Sars cases, and reduce the risk of the infection spreading.

[Mother Abigail]

Sun, March 23, 2003

HK hospital chief falls ill with pneumonia; unclear if it's mystery disease

By HELEN LUK

HONG KONG (CP) - Authorities said Monday that the chief of Hong Kong's Hospital Authority has fallen ill with pneumonia symptoms - but it was not clear whether he has caught the mystery illness that has killed 12 people and sickened more than 400 worldwide.

Dr. William Ho, chief executive of the Hospital Authority, was admitted to hospital on Sunday night with symptoms of pneumonia, according to a statement from the authority's chairman, Dr. Leong Che-hung. Ho was in stable condition Monday, said Hospital Authority spokeswoman Jess Fu. She declined comment on whether Ho had SARS, saying she hoped to have more information later.

Local newspapers said officials were testing to see whether Ho had contracted severe acute respiratory syndrome, or SARS, which has killed eight people in Hong Kong, two in Vietnam and two in Canada.

[Mother Abigail]

Hanoi French Hospital stopped accepting patients on Thursday; 60 per cent of its staff have Sars.

[jimtorr]

Oh, wonderful. Two governments are in the first stage of an effort to contain what could become a catastophic epidemic.

[EternalVigilance]

The horsemen are abroad, it would seem...

[Mother Abigail]

Watch Hong Kong, secondary cases are mounting, schools are closing, hospitals are out of service - bad news in HK

[CathyRyan]

I really think this is out of control.

[TrappedInLiberalHell]

mystery illness that has killed 12 people and sickened more than 400 worldwide.

Hasn't it been one to two weeks since this story started getting significant coverage in America? And in that time, only a few more people have died. It doesn't seem like the kind of illness that has a big 'pandemic' potential. I hope so. The only family I have left (sister and dad), both have chronic health problems. And my mother died ten years ago, from pneumonia (resulting from the immune disease Lupus).

[Mother Abigail]

Tuesday, March 25, 2003 Maid from Abra dies of SARS in Hong Kong

By Ferdinand G. Patinio and Niel Mugas, Correspondents

THE World Health Organization confirmed yesterday that a Filipino domestic helper in Hong Kong had died of the killer pneumonia virus or Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome (SARS).

Both Labor and Health departments confirmed the death of Adela Dalingay, 39, married. a native of Manabo, Abra.

She was pronounced dead at 9:14 a.m. Monday at the Intensive Care Unit of the Queen Elizabeth Hospital.

WHO spokesman Peter Cordingley said the Hong Kong government has also confirmed Dalingay's death.
Labor Secretary Patricia Sto. Tomas said the victim was taken to the accident and emergency department of the said hospital on March 19 by her co-worker, a certain Lily.

Dalingay was then transferred to the Intensive Care Unit after her health deteriorated despite taking antibiotics.

A team of sars specialists attended to her.

Her medical case report, dated March 23, said Dalingay had respiratory failure and was incubated and hooked to a mechanical ventilator. Doctors said, she also had two cardiac arrests but was later revived

---

Unsure if this is secondary case, will try to determine

[Mother Abigail]

Many of the 400 hundred people still alive are in ICU's, many in serious or critical condition, releases of patients has been very slow, the outcome is still in question...

[Judith Anne]

Thanks for posting this update...seems like they are now in the stage where the US could be, in a few weeks. I hope not.

[cardinal4]

Where did it come from? Is just a mutated strain that developed as a result of stronger anti-biotics? Or is a animal disease that has crossed over to humans? This is quite scary. Werent cases reported in LA?

[Judith Anne]

I think it is an animal disease that has crossed over into humans.

[Mother Abigail]

Pneumonia claims another victim in Vietnam
Worldwide death toll from SARS rises to 22 with hundreds of people sick in hospital


March 24, 2003, 15:30

A Vietnamese nurse has died from a fast-spreading pneumonia virus, bringing the worldwide death toll from the disease to 22 with hundreds of people sick in hospital. The latest deaths include three in Hong Kong, officials there said.

Doctors at the Vietnam-France Hospital, where the outbreak in Vietnam's capital began, said a 43-year-old Vietnamese nurse who worked at the facility and who was one of three patients there in critical condition, died this afternoon.

The illness, called severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS), killed a Vietnamese nurse from the same hospital on March 15 and a

[GOPJ]

Is the real problem that no one recovers? You get this, you die, or you stay sick forever? What's going on? Does anyone know?

Yes, the four are mounting up.

The horsemen are abroad, it would seem...

[Mother Abigail]

Death toll has risen from 13 to 22
overnight

[Mother Abigail]

Unknown

[Mother Abigail]

SARS outbreak hits 2 more Canadians
12 more cases feared: Emergency ward closed, third Toronto resident dies

CanWest News Service

Two additional people in Ontario are suspected of having severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS), bringing to 17 the number of Canadians with the deadly pneumonia strain, amid new fears 12 more people may have it.

Dr. Colin D'Cunha, Ontario's Public Health Commissioner, yesterday said one of the two new cases is categorized as probable and the other is listed as suspected.

Announcing the latest cases at a news conference yesterday, Dr. D'Cunha said the emergency ward at a Toronto hospital has been closed to allow medical staff to provide an "appropriate level of care to their patients."