The SARS outbreak in China's capital city of Bejing is getting worse than feared, as the city reported an incredibly high number of 610 suspected SARS patients as of April 21. In the same period, the city also reported 143 new SARS cases, and 7 deaths, bringing the total confirmed SARS cases to 482 and the death toll to 25.

China now has more than 2,000 SARS cases, and 92 deaths. Nearly half of its 31 mainland provinces have reported varying cases. Wen Jiabao, the Chinese Premier, has said the consequences of the disease for the country could be "too dreadful to contemplate".

Officials from the World Health Organization have expressed their fear that whether Beijing alone could contain the spread of the deadly respiratory virus.

All together, China's Ministry of Health admitted a further 194 new cases of severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS) cases and another 13 deaths over the past 3 days. To contain its spread to the ill-prepared vast countryside, where 70 per cent of the Chinese population live, the central government is discouraging urban people to go to the rural areas. On Sunday, the State Council cancelled the 7-day-long May Day holidays.

In an interview, Henk Bekedam, the WHO representative in China, said that China could be looking at a substantial number of cases before the disease peaked.

"I think it will be quite a challenge to contain Sars within China, especially those provinces which have very limited resources," he said. "We hope that the provinces will be ready. Otherwise you might have in all the provinces at least 100 cases, and then you can make up the arithmetic."

The day after the Chinese Government said that Beijing had dramatically underreported the number of cases, raising it tenfold to 339, Mr Bekedam said that the Chinese capital could have many more victims in its hospitals. Half the 402 cases classified as suspected Sars could be real, he said.

Sars has now killed 222 people and infected around 4,000 in 25 countries. The Philippines said yesterday that it had suffered its first death, while more fatalities were reported in Hong Kong and more infections in Singapore and India.

In Canada, health authorities are trying to trace travelers on a suburban commuter train who might have been exposed to SARS from a fellow passenger, sparking fears the virus could have spread beyond the medical community that has borne the brunt of its outbreak so far.

(China Daily April 22, 2003)