Hong Kong hospitals are bracing for a possible tripling of cases of a deadly flu-like virus by the end of the month, placing intense strain on a health system already struggling to cope with the illness.
Hospitals prepared for the worst as the number of victims of severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS) leapt in the crowded city of 7 million, and Singapore tried to contain a fresh outbreak.
China and Canada reported more deaths, while Vietnam said it had two new cases of an illness that has spread around the world, killing nearly 100 people, infecting more than 2,600 and slashing tourism in affected areas.
Australia added the virus yesterday to a list of diseases requiring quarantine, ranking the illness as dangerous as cholera and smallpox, and switched tourism promotion to non-infected countries.
Hong Kong Hospital Authority Chairman Leong Che-hung, speaking of a worst-case scenario, told local television late Sunday that health officials were preparing for up to 3,000 cases. He believed there would be sufficient manpower and facilities although intensive care units would be under pressure.
"We hope that we can contain the disease so that we don't have to go to the worst-case scenario," he told ATV television.
The government said cases in Hong Kong climbed by 42 Sunday to 842, while 22 people had died of the illness since it spread from southern China.
Up to a quarter of those infected in Hong Kong are medical staff, and the government was trying to hire doctors and nurses from the private sector.
In a further blow, Hong Kong health officials were struggling to contain an outbreak at the United Christian Hospital that has struck down more than a dozen medical staff. A local newspaper reported an outbreak at a second hospital but this could not be immediately confirmed.
The effectiveness of a newly developed diagnostic test is also being questioned after a top hospital official in the city tested negative only to come down with SARS later.
Singapore, where six people have died, is battling to control SARS spreading in the city state's main hospital.
A doctor at Singapore General Hospital was confirmed to be infected, raising fears of a crack in the government's strategy of isolating infected people. Twenty nurses at the hospital are also suspected of having SARS and have been isolated.
The outbreak comes after the government imposed sweeping control measures by placing more than 1,000 under home quarantine and closed schools.
Phone lines at Singapore General Hospital went down briefly yesterday as panicked residents flooded the switchboard checking on loved ones. Eighty patients and 91 staff were transferred across town in ambulances to another hospital that is exclusively handling SARS cases.
Canada reported a ninth death on Sunday and said infections had risen to 179. Vietnam said it had 64 cases and four deaths.
China, which has the largest number of cases, said its death toll had risen by two to 53, with 1,268 infections, state television reported yesterday.
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