SARS takes economic toll on Asia

The first SARS case is thought to have been in China's Guangdong Province, which abuts Hong Kong. Reported cases rose sharply in February and March, with more than 3,000 patients and 133 deaths, worldwide.

Forlorn expressions at places like China International Travel (CITS) in Beijing and other city travel bureaus tell their own story. CITS, the most prominent Chinese travel service, canceled all overseas tourist groups last week. It had hoped to fill 50 groups during the holidays, but booked just over half that.

"We've been hearing that Chinese tourists are stopped at the airports when they go abroad," says one CITS employee. Last week, there were two days when "no single customer" tried to enroll in a tour, says a Ms. Sun, at the state-run domestic travel bureau in Beijing.

Cynthia Wang, a young IT professional in Beijing, canceled plans to fly to Europe and is staying in Beijing during golden week, due to SARS fears. "I've never canceled a trip before," she says.

SARS repercussions have also begun to spark minor regional tensions. Last Thursday, Malaysia and Thailand stopped accepting tourist visas from China. In response, China on Friday issued a tit-for-tat policy that it would not allow Chinese tourists to visit those two states for the short term.

China has also been a budget- pleasing destination for US troops in Korea and Japan. But currently, China is off-limits for US military personnel seeking a vacation, and even officers must now get permission to travel there on business.

Both UN and US officials have been generally critical of what is seen as the uncooperative and often secretive approach Chinese authorities have taken to SARS as the number of cases rose sharply in late winter. They have questioned Beijing's statistics, as well as its lack of statistics, at certain points.

For months, SARS received no coverage in state-run media in China, though that has now changed significantly. Starting last week, newspapers like Beijing Youth Daily have run four to five stories a day, usually with story lines emphasizing that the disease is under control, that the numbers of cases are relatively small, and that while SARS is serious, Chinese should not panic.

Chinese medical sources have consistently told reporters that while Beijing is correct to say there is no serious outbreak in the capital, some also say the number of cases are higher than official statistics indicate.

The Wall Street Journal last week discovered a memo by a senior retired doctor who still treats patients at a military hospital. Beijing's official tally is 19 cases and four deaths. Jiang Yanyong, former chief of surgery at military hospital No. 301, however, listed in a memo originally sent to a state TV station, 60 SARS patients at hospital No. 309 alone, including seven deaths there.

In the past week, Beijing has starting disinfecting public places, and posting signs on buses urging Chinese to take care and to report troubling symptoms on a new hotline.

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