I was listening to NPR on my way into work and they had an update on the SARS epidemic in China. According to the report, Biejing is averaging 100+ new reported cases per day, and that is not counting the cases in rural areas where tracking is scarce. She reported that the mass exodus from Beijing has exported the disease to those rural areas, and new infections are appearing there.
She also brought up an interesting point that the seriousness of the epidemic is in no small part due to the attempts of the Chinese gov't to cover it up.
Also, Fox is reporting that some patients in Hong Kong have suffered relapses after being pronounced recovered.
Here are the latest figures from WHO on the SARS outbreak While the disease appears to have peaked in most areas, it's still roaring through China. I expect that when the full extent of the rural cases is known, the total number of cases will explode upwards. Given that care in rural areas will be significantly less than that in Beijing, we can also expect the death toll to rise.
Posted by Rich at April 30, 2003 12:37 PM | TrackBack