Beijing running out of beds for SARS patients as isolation ward opens

BEIJING’S SARS outbreak remains severe and hospitals handling the disease don’t have room for all suspected cases, the city’s new mayor said yesterday, adding that the first 195 patients were being moved into a new isolation unit.

In hard-hit Hong Kong, health authorities said 12 SARS patients have suffered relapses days after doctors declared them recovered a development that had researchers concerned, according to one official.

Authorities there reported seven more SARS deaths yesterday, bringing Hong Kong's total to 157, but said there were only 17 new infections. China reported 11 new SARS fatalities eight in Beijing bringing its toll to 157. It has 3,460 reported infections.

The global death toll from SARS stood at 373, with at least 5,400 cases reported in more than 20 countries.

Chinese authorities, previously accused of covering up the extent of SARS, are now battling rumours they are ready to impose sweeping authoritarian measures to control the illness.

Beijing mayor Wang Qishan denied the city of 13 million people would soon be closed off from the rest of the world or dusted with anti-SARS medications by aircraft at night.

In a rare public admission by a senior Chinese official, Wang said the outbreak had overwhelmed 21 Beijing hospitals that have been designated for SARS treatment and there were not enough beds.

A special 1,000-bed SARS isolation unit is under construction north of the city, and Wang said the first 195 patients were moved in yesterday. In Hong Kong, 12 people were stricken by SARS again after being listed as recovered and discharged from hospitals.

Six have already recovered from the relapses but six were still hospitalised. All were listed in good condition yesterday, said Dr Liu Shao-haei, senior executive manager of the hospital Authority.

University of Hong Kong microbiologist Malik Peiris said relapses are "not a good thing," but they weren't surprising given how little is known about the virus that causes SARS.

In Canada, Toronto tried to get back to normal after the World Health Organisation lifted a travel advisory that had been prompted by that city's SARS outbreak.

In Asia, the virus has stifled tourism, disrupted shipments and crippled other businesses.

Singapore said its unemployment rate for the first quarter was 4.5%, up 0.3% from the previous quarter, and Prime Minister Goh Chok Tong told the city state's people to brace for more job losses as the full impact of SARS makes itself felt.

In Taiwan, 188 patients and staff at a hospital that had been sealed off because of a SARS outbreak have been evacuated so workers can disinfect the building, the Health Department said.

German Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder could delay a planned trip to south-east Asia because of the SARS virus.