Ministers hold Sars crisis talks

Medical workers are taking no chances

Health ministers from across east Asia are meeting in Malaysia to try to co-ordinate responses to the pneumonia-like Sars virus, which has now killed more than 270 people.

A World Health Organization (WHO) official said the countries had to be "absolutely relentless" in their fight against Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome.

"We must use every weapon at our disposal. The world is watching us," the official, Shigeru Omi, told health ministers from the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (Asean), China, Japan and Canada.

Countries from Singapore to France have introduced radical new measures to combat the spread of the disease, including forcibly isolating suspected sufferers.

The moves come as a new report suggests that the death rate from the disease could be twice as high as previously thought.

Mr Omi described Sars as the "first severe and easily transmissible disease to emerge in the 21st Century".

He said the risk of damage to the global economy made it "imperative that we hold this meeting urgently to review the shared problems of Sars and arrive at some best possible solutions".

New measures

Saturday's meeting in Kuala Lumpur is laying the groundwork for a meeting of heads of state of affected countries in Bangkok on Tuesday.

KNOWN DEATH TOLL

Mainland China: 115

Hong Kong: 116

Singapore: 20

Canada: 19

Vietnam: 5

Thailand: 2

Malaysia: 2

Philippines: 2

Source: WHO/ local health authorities

Map: Global overview

Timeline

The BBC's Jonathan Kent in Malaysia says the high-level representation shows how seriously countries are taking the disease.

He says it should be easy to agree measures such as pooling information - but that proposals for screening at borders, restricting movements or designating areas as infected zones will be more controversial.

Amid the calls for regional co-operation, many countries are taking steps on their own.

China, the worst-hit country and source of the outbreak, announced it would spend more than $400m on a nationwide health network to tackle the virus, and sealed off a second hospital.

Singapore has introduced isolation and electronic tagging of suspected sufferers, with a threat of jail for those who violate quarantines.

Officials in Canada - the only country outside of Asia to record Sars-related deaths - continue to reject WHO warnings against travel to its largest city, Toronto.

The country recorded its 19th Sars victim, a 64-year-old woman, on Friday.

Prime Minister Jean Chretien announced that he would hold Tuesday's Cabinet meeting in Toronto rather than the capital Ottawa.

Revised death rate

The WHO has estimated the death rate from Sars may have risen to between 5 and 6%, up from its original estimate of 4%.

Taiwan has imposed a quarantine at a Taipei hospital

But other experts are suggesting the death rate could be higher, perhaps as much as double the WHO estimate.

The New Scientist magazine suggests that in some of the worst-hit cities, the death rate has been between 13% and 19% of "resolved cases" - those where a patient either dies or recovers.

It points out that the numbers could be skewed if it takes longer to recover from Sars than to die from it.

The magazine estimates that the overall death rate may turn out to be around 10%, comparable to some similar viruses.

A study is set to be published looking in detail at the available figures.

In another study, of the 1,400 or so cases in Hong Kong, Professor Roy Anderson at Imperial College London, estimates that between 8% and 15% of those who contract Sars will die.

Rising tolls

Beijing authorities have denied rumours they were planning to introduce martial law.

The panic over Sars appears more dangerous than Sars itself

Todd Whitley, US

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Vice Premier Wu Yi said China would spend 3.5 billion yuan ($420m) setting up a nationwide health network to fight Sars and other medical emergencies.

Another 2 billion yuan ($240m) would be earmarked to pay for emergency care for Sars patients who could not afford to pay for treatment, said Mr Wu.

The BBC's Holly Williams in Beijing says after months of knowing about the virus, suddenly the Chinese Government is taking Sars seriously.

But she says it is causing a growing sense of panic among the public, with people stockpiling rice, salt and cooking oil - forcing prices to rise sharply.

The virus, which has no known cure, is believed to have emerged in China's southern Guangdong province last November.