An analysis of Singapore's nine-week-long outbreak of severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS) published yesterday shows that, although women outnumbered men in contracting the disease, more than half of those who died were men. The average age of those who died was 53.
The study prepared by the World Health Organization and Singapore's Health Ministry said about 12.5 percent of Singapore's SARS patients have died, and that 56 percent of those victims were male.
However, at 66 percent, women outnumbered men among those diagnosed as probably infected with SARS. The report did not explain the higher death rate for men.
It said about 96 percent of the dead have been ethnically Chinese Singaporeans, who make up about three-quarters of the island's population. About 15 percent of the population are Malay Muslims, with the rest mostly of Indian descent.
The backgrounds of those sickened with the disease have been more diverse, the report showed. About 81 percent of probable SARS cases were Singaporean Chinese, 8 percent Filipino, 5 percent from China, 3 percent Indonesian, 2 percent Malaysian and 1 percent Indian.
Singapore's leaders have sought to play down perceptions that the disease disproportionately attacks some ethnic groups, with the deputy prime minister saying the victims have reflected Singapore's multiethnic society.
The median age of all probable SARS patients is 36. A handful of children contracted the disease -- the youngest a 4-year-old boy -- but none died. Scientists already had observed that children were less severely affected by the illness than adults. It is not yet clear why.
Nurses have been particularly hard hit. Eighty-four patients, or 42 percent of the probable SARS cases, have been health care workers. Of those, 49 were nurses.
The island's hospitals continue to struggle with the illness, the report said, citing the difficulty for health care workers in diagnosing SARS in people already sick with other ailments.
The data also backed up earlier reports that most of Singapore's cases can be linked to one woman who brought the illness back from Hong Kong after a February shopping trip. She directly infected 21 people -- mostly her own family and others who visited her in hospital -- and indirectly infected at least another 151.
The report marks March 6 as the beginning of the island's outbreak. The Health Ministry was notified on that day of three people who had returned from Hong Kong and were hospitalized with symptoms of the disease.
The report's data was based on 25 SARS deaths and 201 probable cases. Since the report was compiled, there have been two more deaths and three more probable cases.
‘IN A DIFFERENT PLACE’: The envoy first visited Shanghai, where he attended a Chinese basketball playoff match, and is to meet top officials in Beijing tomorrow US Secretary of State Antony Blinken yesterday arrived in China on his second visit in a year as the US ramps up pressure on its rival over its support for Russia while also seeking to manage tensions with Beijing. The US diplomat tomorrow is to meet China’s top brass in Beijing, where he is also expected to plead for restraint as Taiwan inaugurates president-elect William Lai (賴清德), and to raise US concerns on Chinese trade practices. However, Blinken is also seeking to stabilize ties, with tensions between the world’s two largest economies easing since his previous visit in June last year. At the
Nearly half of China’s major cities are suffering “moderate to severe” levels of subsidence, putting millions of people at risk of flooding, especially as sea levels rise, according to a study of nationwide satellite data released yesterday. The authors of the paper, published by the journal Science, found that 45 percent of China’s urban land was sinking faster than 3mm per year, with 16 percent at more than 10mm per year, driven not only by declining water tables, but also the sheer weight of the built environment. With China’s urban population already in excess of 900 million people, “even a small portion
UNSETTLING IMAGES: The scene took place in front of TV crews covering the Trump trial, with a CNN anchor calling it an ‘emotional and unbelievably disturbing moment’ A man who doused himself in an accelerant and set himself on fire outside the courthouse where former US president Donald Trump is on trial has died, police said yesterday. The New York City Police Department (NYPD) said the man was declared dead by staff at an area hospital. The man was in Collect Pond Park at about 1:30pm on Friday when he took out pamphlets espousing conspiracy theories, tossed them around, then doused himself in an accelerant and set himself on fire, officials and witnesses said. A large number of police officers were nearby when it happened. Some officers and bystanders rushed
Beijing is continuing to commit genocide and crimes against humanity against Uyghurs and other Muslim minorities in its western Xinjiang province, U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken said in a report published on Monday, ahead of his planned visit to China this week. The State Department’s annual human rights report, which documents abuses recorded all over the world during the previous calendar year, repeated language from previous years on the treatment of Muslims in Xinjiang, but the publication raises the issue ahead of delicate talks, including on the war in Ukraine and global trade, between the top U.S. diplomat and Chinese