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Malaysia bans tourists from China over SARS spread

Malaysia became the first country yesterday to bar tourists from China, where a doctor accused the health minister of covering up the severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS) virus that has killed more than 100 people worldwide.

In Hong Kong, two more people died after contracting the SARS virus and 42 new cases of the illness were detected, the government said yesterday.

The new deaths bring the total death toll in Hong Kong from the disease to 27.

A total of 970 cases of the mysterious respiratory illness have now been detected in the former British colony.

An official in Kuala Lumpur said Malaysian missions in China would no longer issue tourist visas in a bid to halt the spread of the disease.

Chinese travelling for government or business reasons were still welcome so long as they carried health certificates declaring that they had no symptoms of SARS, the official said.

A Chinese military doctor accused the health minister of covering up the number of people in the teeming capital of Beijing infected by SARS.

The flu-like disease has infected more than 2,800 people in about 20 countries with nearly half the cases, at least 1,279, in China.

Although the epidemic is small, it concerns doctors because the virus is new and has a death rate of nearly 4 percent.

Dr Jiang Yanyong, 71, said in a letter sent to journalists that six people had died of SARS and 60 had been infected at Beijing's military-run 309 Hospital by last Thursday.

Health Minister Zhang Wenkang (張文康) told a news conference on that day that Beijing had only 12 cases, three of whom had died.

Although Chinese officials said the epidemic was under control, Chinese doctors contacted by news organizations on Tuesday spoke of packed wards and many more deaths than reported by Beijing.

Jiang said he and many other doctors and nurses had been angry when they heard Zhang's statement.

"I think he wants very much to accomplish big things so he must tell lies," Jiang, a Communist Party member for more than 50 years, said in the letter, a copy of which was obtained by Reuters yesterday.

Jiang's move, highly unusual for a Party member, could lay him open to being purged or even jailed for criticizing leaders publicly.

Asked to comment on Jiang's allegation, Health Ministry spokesman Deng Haihua said military hospitals were not under Zhang's jurisdiction.

"In China, military hospitals are independent. Zhang Wenkang has no control over military hospitals," Deng said.

At a news conference yesterday, Beijing Vice Mayor Zhang Mao sidestepped questions on the doctor's accusations, saying the central and local governments would report figures on a regular basis, but declined to elaborate or give figures.

He said the Health Ministry was reporting daily to the World Health Organization (WHO).

"These cases of SARS have not affected the life and work of people in Beijing. Therefore it is safe to travel and work in Beijing," he said.

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