Beijing sees SARS peaking, rural China a worry

Beijing - China said on Friday the worst appeared to be over for SARS-stricken Beijing, as it grounded millions of people at home during a national holiday and opened a hospital for victims of the deadly virus in just eight days.

Liang Wannian, deputy director general of Beijing Municipal Health Bureau, told a news conference the pneumonia-like disease was peaking in the capital, the hardest hit city in the world with 82 deaths and more than 1,500 cases.

Officials stressed it was too early to say when SARS would be brought under control in Beijing -- let alone in the vast country's rural areas, whose rickety healthcare system would be no match for a full-blown outbreak of the mysterious disease.

"Since April 21, the number of SARS patients in Beijing has entered the peak period," Liang said, adding the conclusion was based on figures released by the Health Ministry on Thursday.

"My personal judgment is the present high plateau of the number of cases in Beijing will continue for a period of time. Overall the situation in Beijing is stable, and the upward trend has been effectively checked," he said.

Cases of Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome in the capital will likely drop in the next 10 days, if the virus does not mutate, he said.

SARS has killed 170 people in China and infected more than 3,600 since it emerged in the southern province of Guangdong late last year. Globally, it has infected more than 6,100 people in 30 countries, killing close to 400.

The World Health Organization said China was facing a critical period.

"The next few months will prove crucial in the attempt to contain SARS worldwide, which now greatly depends on whether the disease can be controlled in China," the WHO said in a statement on its Web site (www.who.int).

Doctors say immediately isolating SARS patients is key to preventing its spread and quick treatment may help patients survive. Symptoms include high fever, cough and pneumonia, and there is no standard treatment. It is mainly passed by droplets through sneezing and coughing.

Scientists who have sequenced all the genetic material of the SARS virus said they were stumped by the previously unknown organism.

They said it had yielded virtually no clues about where it came from or why it infects and sometimes kills people. And because there is nothing similar to compare it with, it will take some time to tease out its secrets.

"The fact that it is so different from other viruses has made it difficult," Mark Pallansch of the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention told reporters.

China's President Hu Jintao called for a "People's War" on the disease during a trip to the industrial city of Tianjing, which experts say is poised to experience an outbreak because of its proximity to Beijing.

China has gone on a war footing to contain the disease after scathing criticism from health experts around the world over its belated and secretive response to the outbreak.

Cinemas and other recreational spots have been closed in Beijing, where about 12,000 people are under quarantine orders in the city of 14 million.

The Xiaotangshan Hospital in northern Beijing, boasting at least 90 million yuan ($11 million) worth of medical equipment, opened its doors after more than 7,000 builders rushed to erect the temporary facility for SARS cases in eight days.

Some of the 1,200 medical staff due from the military had arrived, and 156 SARS patients from 15 hospitals in urban areas in Beijing were moved into the hospital on Thursday evening.

But there were fresh worries in Hong Kong where doctors said they had discovered traces of the virus in the stool and urine of patients who had been infected but were later thought to be free of SARS. They also found evidence of permanent lung scarring and possible cases of relapses.

The disease is also taking a toll on Asian economies.

A British research firm, NTC Research said Hong Kong's economy shrank at its sharpest rate in nearly five years in April as SARS scared off consumers and tourists.

The Hong Kong government said it will not be able to meet its three percent economic growth target and unemployment is nearing record highs. Hong Kong has been hardest hit after China.

In Canada, the scramble was on to attract visitors put off by the SARS outbreak there and by the WHO's brief advisory to travelers to avoid Toronto.

But the Toronto area reported two more SARS cases, both in nurses. "For us, this is a setback," Dr. Donald Low, chief of microbiology at Mount Sinai Hospital, told Reuters. Canada has had 349 probable or suspected cases of SARS and 23 deaths.

Businesses and government joined forces to offer tax breaks, low-cost flights, cut-rate hotels and discounted theater shows.

In one unexplained development, WHO said India was SARS-free, although the government there had identified 20 cases and even quarantined an entire wedding party.

"India has no cases that fit the definition of SARS," Dr. S.J. Habayeb, WHO's representative to India, told a news conference. "So far there have been no cases." -- Reuters

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