Asia: Another spasm of fear ran through Hong Kong yesterday after the government said the SARS virus had killed seven more people there and infected another 17.
The latest figures bring the local death toll from Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome to 157 and a total of 1,589 cases in Hong Kong, second only to mainland China on both counts.
Thirty-two patients were discharged yesterday, bringing the total number of discharged patients to 791.
In Shanghai, which is still reporting low figures of patients and suspects, some districts have begun imposing a 14-day quarantine order on visitors from SARS-hit areas, including Beijing.
China's commercial hub has also announced the closure of its stock exchange from today to May 9th.
In Guangdong, the state media said the value of deals at China's top trade fair had slumped to a quarter of previous levels - the worst showing in 15 years - as visitors stayed away.
Taiwan said yesterday two more people had died of SARS and the number of probable and suspected cases jumped sharply to 174 from 15.
A total of 2,621 people are in quarantine, including about 1,100 health workers, patients and visitors at the Taipei Municipal Hoping Hospital, which was cordoned off last Thursday after it reported Taiwan's first major SARS outbreak.
The government also sealed off Jen Chi hospital for 14 days late on Tuesday, after 17 health workers there were suspected of having SARS.
In an effort to contain the spread of the virus, Taiwan closed its borders to visitors from SARS-hit areas, including China, Hong Kong and Singapore on Sunday, and ordered a 10-day quarantine for Taiwan people returning from these regions.
"If we can manage the situation at those two hospitals, and if no new cases enter from Hong Kong or China, then we can control SARS within two months," the Health Department deputy chief, Mr Lee Lung-Teng, said.
The Computex Taipei trade show, which had been expected to draw more than 20,000 foreign visitors, has been postponed.
In Singapore the government said it was too early to say its outbreak had peaked and warned of more unemployment as tourism plunges. SARS weighed on financial markets in Asia yesterday, after rallies this week based on hopes that outbreaks had peaked.
After 23 deaths from SARS in Singapore - the world's third-highest number of SARS fatalities - life in the wealthy city-state is returning to normal. Few people wear surgical masks. The WHO says Singapore appears to be over the worst of the crisis.
The tightly controlled city-state has implemented some of the world's harshest measures to deal with the virus, quarantining 3,001 people and threatening them with fines of $10,000 Singapore dollars (US $5,600) or six months in jail if they leave their homes.