SARS cases triple in Toronto

The number of people suspected of suffering from SARS in Toronto has tripled, Canadian health officials said.

The city’s cluster of new cases emerged last week in a harsh blow to a health care system that appeared to have brought an initial SARS outbreak in March and April under control.

Health officials have told more than 7,000 people to quarantine themselves due to possible exposure.

Doctors initially reported 11 cases in the renewed outbreak, but that number tripled to 33 yesterday after authorities broadened their definition of what constitutes a ’probable case’ to meet international standards.

Over the past three months, 169 people have been infected and 29 have died in Canada.

The worldwide death toll today was at least 753, out of more than 8,300 people infected, the vast majority of them in Asia.