Tuesday, May 13, 2003

SARS: Beijing drops some quarantines, Nigeria's first death

BEIJING (AP) - Encouraged by falling infection rates, Chinese authorities have lifted some SARS quarantine orders in Beijing, but the disease continued to pose a global threat as authorities in Nigeria screened for cases amid fears that a Taiwanese man may have died from it there.

China's official Xinhua news agency on Tuesday reported that about 10,000 Beijing residents were in isolation - down from a peak of about 16,000 last week.

In SARS-hit Singapore, German Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder filled out a health declaration form and was screened by thermal imaging camera like other arriving visitors after he touched down at Changi airport as part of Southeast Asian tour.

Also on Tuesday, Hong Kong mourned the death of its first doctor from SARS and Japan shipped 3,000 masks for use by its citizens in Taiwan where the disease is spreading with13 new cases announced on Tuesday.

Meanwhile SARS fears spread further afield.

Nigeria was screening visitors for signs of the disease after a Taiwanese businessman died of suspected SARS in the west African nation.

Health officials believed the man - who died Feb. 28 - had been in contact with about 30 Nigerians in Kano and Lagos, the country's largest city.

All have been placed under medical surveillance and six developed "flu-like symptoms'' but fully recovered, Nigeria's health minister Alphonsus Nwosu said.

With a population of more than 126 million, Nigeria is Africa's most populous country.

Health experts fear the world's poorest continent - with poor health care and millions already weakened by AIDS - would be unable to cope with SARS, with devastating consequences should the virus spread there.

Underscoring its concerns about SARS, Nigeria canceled plans to play in the three-nation Kirin Cup 2003 soccer tournament in June, the Japan Football Association said.

Nigeria was chosen as a replacement for Portugal, which pulled out earlier this month also because of the SARS scare. Argentina will also play in the competition.

In the Middle East, the Gulf kingdom of Bahrain added the Philippines to its banned visitor list that includes China, Hong Kong, Taiwan, Singapore and Vietnam. People from those six countries must wait at least 10 days in another country before they can enter Bahrain.

More than 7,400 cases of severe acute respiratory syndrome have been reported worldwide and the international death toll stood at least 561.

The latest SARS death was that of a Hong Kong physician. Dr. Tse Yuen-man died Tuesday in the intensive care unit of Tuen Mun Hospital, where she contracted SARS while treating patients with a nurse who died last week.

The flu-like illness has hit health workers hard. In China, state-run media has lauded them as "angels in white.''

Authorities in Beijing have lifted SARS quarantines on three hospitals and a residential neighborhood, cutting the number of people isolated in the Chinese capital to 10,017, Xinhua said Tuesday.

Beijing's newly reported cases of SARS has been declining in recent days while authorities step up efforts to keep its from spreading to China's poor countryside.

China's central government is creating its first headquarters for health emergencies and has told provincial officials to set up disease-reporting networks, state media said.

The lack of such a system has been blamed in part for China's slow response to SARS.

SARS has killed at least 252 people on China's mainland, and number of people infected has passed 5,000. - AP

To the SARS website

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SARS: Beijing drops some quarantines, Nigeria's first death