SARS outbreak surges in Taiwan as fatalities and infections soar

THE SARS crisis surged in Taiwan with eight new fatalities and a record jump in infections yesterday, as the World Health Organisation visited a poor and medically backward Chinese province that could be fertile ground for a future epidemic.

Highlighting the disease's global nature, Canadian officials angrily rejected suggestions that a Finnish man contracted SARS in Toronto, a city which insists its outbreak is under control.

The world death toll from severe acute respiratory syndrome reached at least 559, with the deaths in Taiwan, as well as 12 more in Beijing and three in Hong Kong. There were at least 7,400 known SARS cases.