Now, Taiwan Cases Of SARS On The Rise

Taiwan saw another record rise in its number of new SARS cases on Sunday as the pneumonia-like virus spread to an offshore island and two more hospitals had to be closed. The President of China, where SARS first appeared late last year, vowed to work with the world to halt the spread of the virus as Chinese authorities reported the lowest number of SARS deaths in a day for over a month.

Singapore was on course to be declared free of SARS by the World Health organization (WHO) after 20 days with no new cases. Hong Kong reported only three new cases but another four deaths from the disease. Taiwan, with the world’s third-highest number of SARS deaths and infections after China and Hong Kong, said the outlying Penghu Islands had reported their first cases, stark evidence the virus was still spreading.

Crippling Regional Airlines

The SARS epidemic, which is centered in East Asia, has devastated airlines throughout the region. There are new flight restrictions - some airlines just can't get there because local or national governments have banned flights. There are new medical procedures for arriving and departing passengers, designed to look for the SARS virus. But more than anything, passengers are staying away in droves. In fact, the government on Okinawa wants the national government in Japan to ban flights from Taipei. Hotels in Japan have started slamming doors in the faces of people traveling from places like Taipei and Hong Kong. Carriers like China Airlines are struggling to keep the passengers they have, much less attract new ones.

"We will make our utmost effort to prevent passengers from contracting the virus while flying," said one China Airlines executive. National economies, dependent to varied extents on tourism cash, are also hurting. "In the past more than 70,000 tourists visited Japan per month," said Roget Hsu, secretary-general of the Travel Agent Association. "But the figure declined to about 7,000 last month and, with the case, may fall further in the coming months."

FMI: www.airlinequality.com