Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao (溫家寶) described his country's outbreak of severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS) as "grave," while Hong Kong authorities yesterday fretted over how young, and previously strong and fit, patients are dying from the disease.
The global death toll has reached at least 137. Among the new deaths were seven otherwise healthy adults in Hong Kong who doctors thought would have had a good chance of recovery.
About 3,000 people worldwide have been infected or suspected of being infected by SARS. Most cases have been in Asia, where worried governments have tightened screening of passengers at airports and invoked strict quarantine rules.
New Zealand said yesterday it would deploy nurses at international airports to monitor incoming travelers displaying symptoms, which include fever, aches, dry cough and shortness of breath.
Australians who regularly donate blood will be banned from doing so for two weeks if they've just returned from a SARS-affected country, authorities said.
The situation remained serious in China, where experts suspect SARS began and whose government has been accused concealing information about the outbreak.
Wen warned that China's economy, international image and social stability might feel the impact of the disease, the state-run Xinhua News Agency said.
"Much progress has been made in combating the disease ... but the overall situation remains grave," Xinhua quoted Wen as saying Sunday at a national meeting on SARS.
Wen's comments were a striking change from recent government assurances and were the highest-level admission that SARS is a threat to China.
The official death toll from the illness in China hit 64 yesterday, with three fatalities reported in northern Shanxi Province and one in the Inner Mongolia region, according to the World Health Organization.
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