Current situation on SARS outbreaks in China

Updated 27 April 2004

On 22 April, the World Health Organization (WHO) reported a case of SARS in China, who was a 20-year-old nurse from Beijing. She was admitted to Jiangong Hospital on 7 April, transferred to Remin Hospital (Beijing People's Hospital) on 14 April and then to Ditang Hospital (in Beijing) on 19 April.

On 23 April, WHO reported three more cases of SARS:

• A 26-year-old female laboratory researcher from Anhui Province (China), who worked at the Chinese National Institute of Virology in Beijing between 7 March and 23 March 2004. She developed symptoms on 25 March and was admitted to Jiangong Hospital in Beijing. During her stay at hospital, she was attended to by her mother and by the 20-year-old nurse reported. She later moved between two other hospitals after taking the train back to Anhui with her mother, Huainan Second Hospital (3 April) and Anhui University Hospital Number 1 (4 April).
• The mother of the 26-year-old female laboratory researcher developed symptoms on 8 April and was admitted to Anhui University Hospital Number 1. She died on 19 April.
• A 31-year-old male researcher who worked at the Chinese National Institute of Virology in Beijing developed symptoms on 17 April. He was admitted to Ditang Hospital in Beijing on 22 April.

WHO has classified the 20-year-old nurse and the 26-year-old laboratory researcher as confirmed cases of SARS, while the 31 year old male is currently regarded as a probable case. The deceased mother is classified as a suspect case, due to a lack of test results to further classify the case.

On 27 April, WHO reported there were 4 additional suspected cases. Three out of the four suspects were relatives of the 20-year-old nurse and the fourth suspect is a male patient who stayed in the same ward.

Chinese authorities are stepping up infection control measures by starting with closing the laboratory where the workers contracted SARS and would start disinfecting public buildings and take the temperatures of travellers at all ports of entry. China’s railway stations and airports have been ordered to take the temperatures of passengers in a bid to stop the possible transmission of the disease. Border control efforts are currently in place worldwide and attention is being focused at all international airports on passengers travelling from China.