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SARS toll climbs in HK
HONG KONG, China -- The incidence of severe acute respiratory syndrome, or SARS, continued to climb in Hong Kong, as the killer form of pnuemonia claimed another life in the city. Hong Kong on Tuesday reported 75 more people were infected, bringing the total number of cases in the former British colony to 685. The local death toll from the disease now stands at 16. Eighty new cases and two deaths were recorded Monday. SARS has affected almost 1,900 people in at least 15 countries, and 63 have died. Researchers at the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in Atlanta in the United States said Tuesday they are 90 percent certain that a new species of "coronavirus" is responsible for SARS. If the new strain is the culprit, its discovery could bring quick progress in fighting the disease, since coronavirus strains usually respond to medicines. And Hong Kong health officials say they are making headway in fighting an outbreak of the fast-moving mystery illness but mainland China, where the virus originated four months ago, has yet to report its cases fully to the World Health Organization (WHO). An anti-viral drug called Ribavirin has shown progress in fighting the outbreak of SARS, Hong Kong health officials said Tuesday. According to the Department of Health, at least 90 percent of patients treated with the antiviral drug have recovered. "We have administered new medicine to treat those people and most of them have shown very encouraging results," said Hong Kong Health Department spokeswoman Eva Wong. Meanwhile, all residents of an apartment block in Hong Kong struck down by the virus have been quarantined in two holiday villages in the rural districts. The Hong Kong quarantine order came into effect as the government announced 185 residents from the Amoy Gardens apartment complex in the district of Kowloon had fallen ill with the disease. Elsewhere, Australia is now requiring incoming flights from Asian destinations to get quarantine clearance before they land in a bid to prevent the diseases spreading. Pilots are now required to declare whether they are carrying passengers with SARS-like symptoms. Australia's chief medical officer Richard Smallwood announced the quarantine move as Australia confirmed its first suspected case of SARS to the WHO on Tuesday. Smallwood said a Sydney man suspected of contracting the disease while on a trip to Singapore.had since recovered and been discharged from hospital. The U.S.'s also has issued travel advisories for Hong Kong, mainland China, Hanoi, Vietnam, and Singapore, saying persons planning non-essential travel to those destinations "may wish to postpone their trips until further notice." In Singapore, about three-quarters of the national rugby side will be quarantined for at least a week after returning from the annual Hong Kong Sevens rugby union tournament, Singapore sport officials said on Tuesday. The 21 players and officials from the men's and women's teams showed no signs of suffering from SARS but the Singapore Rugby Union took the step as a precaution, Reuters reported. "It's just to be safe. There are no signs at all that they are sick," a rugby union spokeswoman said. Airport screeningIn an effort to combat the spread, airlines have been urged to screen passengers at check in, with several countries introducing airport health checks for passengers arriving from SARS hotspots. Airlines have themselves reported large numbers of cancellations from worried travellers with share values in several Asian carriers plummeting as a result. On Monday the Singapore government announced that nurses would be on stand-by to examine passengers arriving on flights from Hong Kong, Taiwan and Toronto, as well as Beijing, Shanxi, and Guangdong in China -- all of which have been listed as affected areas by the World Health Organization (WHO). Some 91 cases have been reported in Singapore, three of whom have died of the disease. As in Hong Kong, Singapore has ordered all schools closed and imposed emergency quarantine orders on hundreds of people suspected of having close contact with confirmed SARS cases. SARS spread to other countries from Hong Kong after an infected mainland Chinese medical professor passed the illness to seven other people in a Kowloon hotel last month. Cases of SARS have now been reported in China, Hong Kong, Taiwan, Singapore, Germany, Switzerland, Canada, the United States, Britain, France, Ireland, Italy, Romania, Australia, Panama and Indonesia. The Associated Press & Reuters contributed to this report.
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