I know when to travel – Toronto, This Week!!
From MSNBC on April 24, 2003 — Beijing announced plans Thursday to quarantine people and buildings infected with severe acute respiratory syndrome. Responding to the worldwide spread of the deadly virus, the World Health Organization warned travelers against visiting Beijing, as well as China’s Shanxi province and Toronto, Canada’s business capital.
THE WARNING came amid other signals reflecting the concern and spread of the virus, which is known by its acronym, SARS:
The Beijing quarantine plan, disclosed by the official news agency Xinhua, closely followed the closing of all schools for at least two weeks, which officials announced Tuesday. Thousands of residents were reported to be fleeing Beijing, jamming the airport and train stations, as the government said that 147 more people had come down with SARS and that nine more had died.
Canada raised its SARS death toll by one, to 15. Major League Baseball warned its teams and players competing in Toronto against signing autographs, riding transit or visiting hospitals.
Singapore also saw its toll rise by one, to 17, the first death there in five days. Alarm was growing over an outbreak among vendors at the city-state’s largest vegetable market, and the government threatened to jail people violating a quarantine.
The Arafura Games, which attract more than 3,000 athletes from more than 25 countries to Australia’s Northern Territory, were canceled.
WHO’s recommendation to postpone non-essential travel to Beijing, Shanxi and Toronto will be in effect for at least three weeks, twice the maximum incubation period, said David Heymann, WHO’s director of communicable diseases.
With the new warning, Toronto becomes the first place outside Asia on the list. The city was also the first place outside Asia where the disease was detected.
Canada has reported 15 deaths, all of them in the Toronto area, and 306 suspected or probable cases, including 136 in Ontario province.
Officials in Ontario said they were disappointed with the WHO warning about travel to Toronto and hoped to persuade it that the initiative was unnecessary.
Health Minister Tony Clement said that his government was getting a handle on the outbreak and that he believed he could show WHO that the disease was not being spread in the general community.
From the Archives — originally published on the Opelika Daily News on April 24, 2003. View the original page.
