Hong Kong may seek Chinese help against SARS
Hong Kong said seven more people had died from the disease, the highest number reported in any one day since the outbreak started early in March.
Forty more have been infected, including four health care workers, bringing the total to 1,190, the government said.
“We hope to use our own people first. But we don’t rule out that we may have to ask mainland Chinese doctors to help if our situation worsens,” Hospital Authority chairman Leong Che-hong told reporters.
His comments come just days after Hong Kong leader Tung Chee-hwa told Chinese President Hu Jintao the territory has not been able to bring the disease under effective control, although it now knows considerably more about it.
Doctors and nurses say the territory's health care system may collapse if more medical staff are infected.
Health experts have said there are no longer enough intensive care beds nor isolation wards, sparking fears of more infections.
Hu told Tung last week that Beijing was ready to offer medical assistance to Hong Kong if needed.
It is not known if Tung asked for any specific help.
The former British colony, which returned to Chinese rule in 1997, has been the region worst-hit by the disease after mainland China, where SARS originated.
Hu’s low-profile visit to Guangdong province, bordering Hong Kong, was the strongest indication yet of how seriously Chinese leaders view the worsening health crisis.
China has been sharply criticised for being too slow to report its outbreak, which began in November.
The flu-like disease, which deteriorated rapidly into pneumonia for many Hong Kong victims, has been carried by travellers to about 20 countries, infecting more than 3,300 people and killing 144.
