China closes another hospital as panic buyers stock up

Patients and 2,000 workers from a Beijing hospital that was hastily sealed were under observation Friday today for symptoms of the Sars virus, as fearful residents emptied grocery stores of rice, oil and frozen food in a bout of panic buying.

The People’s Hospital of Peking University was the second medical unit in the Chinese capital to close because of severe acute respiratory syndrome, which has killed 39 people in Beijing and 110 nationwide.

It was China’s latest action this week – along with the closing of public schools and plans for a quarantine – to try to contain the Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome disease. Its spread has touched on virtually every aspect of society, from tourism to business to sports.

Effects of the disease also were being felt – though less profoundly – in Canada. Both Toronto and Beijing were added on Wednesday to a list of other Chinese cities as places travellers should avoid.

Toronto has far fewer cases than China and only 16 deaths, but the World Health Organisation said it had exported Sars cases to other countries. Canadian officials, fearing a continued decline in business, asked WHO to reconsider, but noted that was unlikely.

Russia banned travel to China after a Chinese citizen was taken to hospital on Russia’s Pacific island of Sakhalin over fears he may carry the virus.

Moscow’s top health official, Gennady Onishchenko, said ”As of today, I forbid tourism to China as a whole.” But he did not say how the ban would be enforced.

Globally, more than 260 people have died of the virus and about 4,400 have been infected – roughly half of those in the Chinese mainland. The WHO reports that more than 2,000 people have recovered from the disease, which has no definitive treatment.

In Taiwan’s capital Taipei, a hospital where a Sars outbreak was reported, was sealed off and nearby buildings ordered disinfected. Taiwan has reported 37 cases of Sars, but no deaths.

In Beijing, the People’s Hospital also was being disinfected, and a university official said an unknown number of patients and 2,262 employees were moved for observation to another hospital, one of six designated to handle Sars.

However, a sign outside the building, which was cordoned off with police tape, said everything inside – from patients to equipment – was being kept there to stem the spread of the Sars virus.

Masked guards turned away people – also masked – who were trying to enter the building. Some were allowed to pass bags of food and clothes to guards, who handed them to masked hospital employees. Deliveries of newspapers and fruit were also brought to the gate and taken in.

“It looks like a war zone,” said a taxi driver as he drove past.

Beijing’s airport and railway station were packed this week with people trying to flee.

Shoppers worried that officials might close stores as a preventive measure, or worse, quarantine all of Beijing, which would cut off food supplies. They have been rushing to clear the shelves of eggs, dumplings, soy sauce, rice and instant noodles.

Earlier this month, the People’s Armed Police General Hospital shut down after staff members fell ill with Sars.