WHO Travel Warning As Sars Death Toll Mounts

The World Health Organisation today warned against travel to Toronto, Beijing and China's Shanxi province as the death toll from Sars continued to climb.

Officials in Canada confirmed Toronto's 15th death from severe acute respiratory syndrome, a flu-like disease that, so far, has been largely confined to Asia. The Ontario health ministry said that a 64-year-old man believed to have been suffering from Sars died in hospital yesterday.

Canada reported 324 probable or suspected cases of Sars as of late Monday.

Officials in the Chinese capital, Beijing, struggling to contain a recent jump in the number of Sars cases, today announced that they will shut down public schools for two weeks to prevent students from spreading the disease.

The school closures begin tomorrow, and will affect 1.7 million students in a city in which Sars has already killed 35 people. An official of the Beijing municipal education commission said that tests for primary, junior high and high school students were postponed indefinitely.

The Beijing Morning News said that students with Internet access would receive lessons at home, and teachers would be required to come to work to supervise their studies.

China released the latest figures for the disease today, reporting that another 147 people had contracted Sars and nine had died. The vast majority of the new cases were in Beijing. The health ministry said that the total number of Sars infections in mainland China rose to 2,305, while the number of deaths rose to 106.

In Shanghai, officials announced that they will shut down a popular car show tomorrow, three days earlier than planned, as a public health measure.

The show's organisers said in a statement: "Now is a crucial period in preventing Sars. The government has decided to safeguard people's health and close the show early." There have been 10 suspected cases of Sars in Shanghai, and two confirmed cases.

More than 4,000 people worldwide are believed to have contracted Sars, with the majority of cases and deaths in mainland China and Hong Kong. The WHO has already warned against travel to Hong Kong and the southern Chinese province of Guangdong.

Officials in Hong Kong said today that the Sars death toll rose to 105 as the flu-like disease claimed six more lives. Another 24 people were reported to be infected, bringing the total number of cases in Hong Kong to 1,458.

The WHO said today that it plans to investigate claims in a Hong Kong government report that Sars has spread by sewage leaks, personal contact, or even through cockroaches and rats.

It issued a warning against travelling to Hong Kong after a disturbingly virulent outbreak in an apartment complex, the Amoy Gardens. More than 300 residents were infected, and 14 died.

WHO officials want a "complete and satisfactory understanding" of what happened at Amoy Gardens, as well as evidence that a repeat is unlikely, before the travel advisory is lifted, spokesman Peter Cordingley said from the agency's regional office in Manila.

The Geneva-based WHO also needs to see Hong Kong's daily infection numbers coming down, Mr Cordingley said.

Hong Kong government officials say that numbers are already dropping steadily, though the daily tally remains in the double digits. The economic effect of the disease on Hong Kong has been devastating.