April 4, 2003	Friday	Safar 1, 1424

HONG KONG, April 3: The Hong Kong government said on Thursday a doctor had died after contracting the SARS virus and 26 new cases had been reported.

The death of 56-year old Dr. Lau Tai-kwan, who had a history of chronic heart disease, brings the death toll from Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome in the territory to 17, a government statement said.

A total of 734 cases of SARS have now been detected in Hong Kong.

The new SARS cases included one other healthcare worker and two more residents of Amoy Gardens, the public housing estate that was closed off and hundreds of its residents put in quarantine following the discovery of a cluster of infections in one of its high-rise apartment blocks.

The number of patients being treated in intensive care also rose by three to 85.

Meanwhile authorities here were is racing against the clock to open new isolation wards to cope with the SARS crisis as the already stretched health care system threatens to be overwhelmed by the growing number of victims.

Medical sources said contingency plans were being drawn up to convert a second hospital into isolation wards should the number of cases increase rapidly, and that so far there were no plans to fly victims out of Hong Kong.

Legislator Michael Mak warned the heathcare system had too few nurses even before the SARS crisis erupted in early March, and that it could face meltdown within weeks.

Hong Kong University professor of politics Sonny Lo, who has been studying the government’s reaction to the outbreak, agreed with the legislator.

“The government’s response to this has been unsatisfactory,” Lo said.

“There is an implementation gap between the government and the Hospital Authority, which in its worst manifestation has left the nurses with declining morale and even a sense of panic.

MASKS: Singapore Airlines (SIA) said Thursday it will provide medical face masks for passengers and crew on flights from areas affected by a potentially fatal respiratory disease.

The masks would be provided on flights departing from Beijing, Guangzhou, Shanghai, Hong Kong, Hanoi, Taiwan and Kaohsiung, the airline said in a statement.

Medical kits aboard the planes also contain masks intended for emergency use by doctors and crew in cases of in-flight emergencies.

SIA, one of Asia’s most profitable carriers, said it will also increase disinfection of its aircraft to prevent the spread of the virus. The cockpit and cockpit crew rest areas will also be disinfected.

SARS, which manifests itself as an unusual form of pneumonia, has killed nearly 80 people and affected about 2,300 others worldwide.

US DIPLOMATS: The United States said on Thursday it would pay for US diplomats and their families to leave all posts in China, including the embassy in Beijing, due to fears of the rampant spread of the deadly new strain of pneumonia known as SARS.

Deputy Secretary of State Richard Armitage told lawmakers he would approve a request to expand the State Department’s so-called “authorized departure” programme from the consulates in Hong Kong and Guangzhou to Washington’s other four diplomatic missions in China.

“We’re going to agree to it,” he told a House budget subcommittee two days after the programmes were put in place in Hong Kong and Guangzhou.—AFP