Two more SARS cases in China
China confirmed two more SARS cases today, doubling the number of infected people linked to a Beijing laboratory believed responsible for the latest outbreak of the viral disease.
The mother and aunt of an infected nurse were the latest cases, according to China’s Ministry of Health.
One was listed as critically ill, though it was unclear which. The announcement brought the mainland's number of cases to four confirmed and five suspected.
In Taiwan, a 78-year-old man was quarantined and being tested for SARS today after he returned from the mainland and developed a high fever and other flu-like symptoms. He had travelled for two weeks in China before returning on Saturday, authorities said.
But even as the numbers rose, the Chinese government and the World Health Organisation emphasised that the SARS cases appeared to be contained to people linked to Beijing’s Institute of Virology, a national laboratory.
An international medical team was set to visit the institute and determine whether procedures there contributed to the reappearance of severe acute respiratory syndrome, China’s government said.
It wants to stem both the disease and public panic to prevent a recurrence of events last year, when 349 people in China died of SARS after it roared out of the southern province of Guangdong. About 774 died worldwide, thousands were taken ill and the economic repercussions were severe.
Tracking the current cases is especially urgent because one of China’s “Big Three” national holidays – the weeklong May Day, or Labour Day holiday – begins Saturday. Millions will be travelling around the country, and any SARS carriers could infect people over a wide area.
