BEIJING/TORONTO, May 1: Millions of Chinese workers celebrated Labour Day on Thursday cooped up at home, as China tried to contain the deadly SARS virus, which threatens to overwhelm its healthcare systems.

China cut the “Golden Week” holiday to a long weekend this year and issued stern travel advisories to discourage people from heading home to the hinterland.

Last year, 87.1 million people thronged trains, buses and planes during the week-long holiday, generating four billion dollars in revenues, state media said. SARS has killed 170 people in China and infected more than 3,600 since it emerged in the southern province of Guangdong late last year.

Beijing has been one of the worst hit areas and is seeing 100 or more new cases every day. The capital has already closed schools and cinemas and put 11,000 people under quarantine.

The empty buses and mounting business closures reinforced what most people already know: China has yet to control the contagion of the disease.

World health officials said not only was SARS here to stay, but its fatality rate was worsening as patients who had been lingering in hospitals have now begun to die from the disease.

The officials from Canada and other countries met in Toronto on Wednesday to examine how to stop the spread of the disease. Canada, where deaths rose from 21 to 23, is the only country outside Asia where people have died from SARS.

The disease has killed about 400 people in Asia and Canada and infected more than 6,000 across the world. Doctors say quickly isolating SARS patients is key to preventing it from spreading and quick treatment may help patients survive.

Symptoms include high fever, cough and pneumonia, and there is no standard treatment. Scientists say it is mainly passed by droplets through sneezing and coughing.

HONG KONG WORRY: Doctors in Hong Kong said they had discovered for the first time traces of the SARS virus in the stool and urine of patients thought to be free of the virus and discharged from hospital.—Reuters