Jump in Sars deaths

Jump in Sars deaths

A German firm is distributing free, high-speed test kits

More people have died of a deadly flu-like illness Sars in Hong Kong in the last 24 hours than on any day since the outbreak started.

Health authorities announced on Tuesday that nine more people in the territory had died from Sars, taking the death toll to 56.

Three of the latest victims were previously healthy women in their 30s - one of whom underwent an emergency Casearean before her death to save her child.

Simon Parry, news editor of the South China Morning Post, told the BBC: "One thing that is worrying people is that the victims seem to be getting increasingly young.

SARS: PROBABLE CASES AND DEATHS

China 1,418 cases (64 deaths)

Hong Kong 1,190 (47)

Singapore 158 (12)

Canada 100 (13)

Vietnam 63 (5)

Thailand 8 (2)

Malaysia 4 (1)

Source: WHO (1600 GMT Monday) Note: The WHO only records cases and deaths it believes are "probable" Sars - figures from national health authorities may vary.

"There is a feeling that this is potentially slipping out of control. If the numbers keep rising there could be a situation where the hospitals just could not cope."

There have been more than 3,000 cases of Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome - most in south-east Asia - and more than 140 people have died.

An estimated 4% of people infected with Sars will not survive.

New test

Meanwhile, German biotechnology firm company is distributing a new high-speed test for Sars.

The company, Artus is confident the test can confirm the presence of the lethal respiratory disease in two hours, whereas traditional tests for antibodies take more than 10 days.

The test can detect the strain of the Corona virus which has been found in patients suffering from Sars, and is now widely thought to cause the disease.

How Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome has spread around the world

SARS guide

Samples of the test will be shipped out for further evaluation by specialist labs around the world.

A spokesman for the World Health Organization (WHO) told the BBC the prospect of a standardised test was good news.

It would make it possible to test a lot of samples in a short period of time.

He also welcomed the fact that commercial companies were joining the fight against Sars.

A second test, developed by the Centers for Disease Control, in the US should also be ready for roll-out by the end of the week.

A new study by Hong Kong University, published on the British Medical Journal website, concludes that the agent responsible for the disease is "highly infectious and virulent".

Professor Tze Wai Wong, of the Chinese University of Hong Kong, has suggested the use of a nebuliser on an infected patient may have been to blame for the spread of disease.

In a letter to the journal Occupational and Environmental Medicine, Professor Wong said use of the nebuliser probably led to infected droplets being released into the air in aerosol form.

Linked cases

On Tuesday, Canadian health officials said they had linked 31 possible Sars cases.

These include members of a religious community and two physicians who attended the funeral of a Sars victim earlier this month.

In Taiwan, the authorities are offering cash rewards for information leading to the discovery of new Sars cases.

In China, President Hu Jintao has admitted he was "very worried" by the disease, which has killed 64 in the country.

Almost all the country's cases were recorded in Guangdong, but the illness has also now been reported in the provinces of Sichuan, Guangxi and Hunan.

Prime Minister Wen Jiabao described the situation as "grave", and said preventing further spread of the disease was the most urgent task facing the country's health authorities.

Beijing reported 15 new cases on Tuesday - its largest one-day jump - taking the total in China's capital to 37, Reuters said.

The WHO has criticised China - where the disease first emerged in November - for its reluctance to release information on the virus.

Canadian researchers over the weekend published the first entire genetic sequence of the suspected Sars virus.

However, health officials have warned that there is still a long way to go in explaining how it arose or how to stop the spread of the deadly flu-like illness.