Sars deaths leap in Hong Kong

As the Sars crisis intensified with record deaths in Hong Kong, a suspected New Zealand case remained in isolation in Dunedin Hospital last night.

Geoffrey Vine, 63, is in a stable condition. The hospital has not ruled out that he has severe acute respiratory syndrome (Sars).

Mr Vine was admitted to hospital on Friday with most of the symptoms of Sars, staff leaping into action with full infectious disease protocol.

Mr Vine was met by a staff nurse in gloves, gown and mask and was isolated in the hospital's negative pressure room, which prevents air inside the room from escaping.

The newspaper production editor became unwell while returning on Wednesday from a five-week holiday to London, his wife, Gillian, said.

He had spent three days in Bali on the way to London and had stopped over in Singapore, Bali and Brisbane on the way home.

Mrs Vine said she believed her husband's condition was improving.

Elsewhere, Hong Kong reported 12 deaths from Sars on Saturday, its highest one-day jump, and another seven yesterday.

The disease is fatal in about 4 per cent of cases and has no known cure.

The World Heath Organisation says 3547 cases with 182 deaths have been reported from 25 countries.

Chinese authorities raised significantly their number of cases after criticism the true figure had been concealed.

The bulk of the new cases were in Beijing, where the number of infections was estimated at an alarming 339 and 402 more suspected cases.

The disease has killed 67 people in China and infected about 1800 - nearly half of the world's total cases.

The Vietnamese Government is considering closing its 1130km land border with China.

In Hong Kong, New Zealander Dr Tom Buckley, one of the first to alert the world to the scale of the outbreak, has not sent out a global email since Thursday, saying he is too busy to give updates.

He told the Herald he had been asked to go to another hospital, which was overwhelmed with cases and where four of six intensive care doctors had contracted the disease.

He was moved from his position as acting head of intensive care at Prince of Wales Hospital several days ago because Princess Margaret had nobody with his virus experience.

"The infection control aspect was easy, but compliance is only 99 per cent. Clinical management, well, that's another very confusing story.

"There were three deaths in ICU yesterday, but today most of the patients are relatively stable. It is like a never-ending roller-coaster."

Singapore authorities have announced draconian measures. Sars victims who flout quarantine regulations will face fines and prison terms without a court hearing.

Prime Minister Goh Chok Tong said the outbreak could be "the worst crisis" Singapore had faced.

So far 16 Singaporeans have died and 172 are infected.

Sars is passed in droplets, by coughing and sneezing, but the World Health Organisation (WHO) is not ruling out transmission when people touch objects such as lift buttons, or through faecal matter.

"The vast majority of countries reporting probable Sars cases are dealing with a small number of imported cases," the WHO said in its latest update.

But the WHO said it was concerned about the outbreaks in Hong Kong and Canada, which had raised the possibility of transmission from an environmental source.