INTERNATIONAL. Suggestions in some quarters that the SARS epidemic is over appeared wildly optimistic as a further 212 additional cases and 19 new deaths compared with a day earlier were reported yesterday by the World Health Organization (WHO). But there is increasing evidence that the virus may be being confined to a small set of countries.
The deaths occurred in China (11), Hong Kong (5), Taiwan (2), and Singapore (1). Worryingly from a European perspective, Poland reported its first case yesterday. New cases are the key indicator of SARS ongoing threat. Yesterday, only four countries of the 30 to have so far incurred SARS cases reported new outbreaks – China, Hong Kong, Taiwan and Poland. Hong Kong reported 11 new cases, Taiwan 11, China 187 and Poland 1.
The WHO said: “The United Kingdom and the United States of America have been removed from the list of areas with recent local transmission. In both countries, the last instance of local transmission occurred more than 20 days ago. But Tianjin, China and Ulaanbaatar City, Mongolia, were added to the list.”
The number of new SARS cases continues to increase steadily in China, particularly in Beijing. China reported 187 new cases and 11 deaths, more than half of which were in the capital. The WHO said that the next few months will prove crucial in the attempt to contain SARS worldwide, which now greatly depends on whether the disease can be controlled in China.
Besides decimating the country’s travel and travel retail sectors, SARS has had a devastating effect on people’s lives in China, a point some trade commentators would do well to remember when they write of “exaggerated fears over SARS”. One Beijing resident told The Moodie Report: “The virus is so terrible. We have taken a lot of measures to protect ourselves. I hope the doctors can invent a kind of vaccine as soon as possible to end this nightmare. People are wearing respirators, taking medicine and avoiding going out in public to prevent from being infected.
“We have less travellers and less customers in shops and are all hoping this nightmare goes away before it does more damage to China and the whole world.”
Comment: The travel retail world continues to monitor the SARS situation with utmost concern. There are increasing signs that the virus is relatively confined to a number of key locations – China and Hong Kong being the worst affected. The news from the UK and US is encouraging, following a similar “all clear” in Vietnam. So is the fact that only four of the 30 countries to have so far been hit by SARS reported new cases yesterday. If SARS can be confined to a handful of markets, traveller confidence will continue to be restored elsewhere. But this terrible human and commercial crisis is a long way from over.
