The Hindu : SARS: Hundreds more in Canada quarantined

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Thursday, May 29, 2003

International

International

SARS: Hundreds more in Canada quarantined

TORONTO (Canada) May 28. Hundreds more people were told to quarantine themselves at home on Tuesday due to possible exposure to a new cluster of SARS cases in Toronto, health officials said.

The nine probable cases and 23 suspected cases of severe acute respiratory syndrome first identified last week put Canada's largest city back on a World Health Organisation list of SARS-affected areas. Three more probable cases from the initial Toronto outbreak also remained hospitalised.

Still reeling from the biggest SARS outbreak outside of Asia in March and April, Toronto now faces further harm to the crucial convention and tourism industry because of the renewed cases. ``We had hoped SARS was behind us but to quote our medical officials, `SARS is the new reality,''' Toronto Mayor, Mel Lastman, told a news conference announcing special ticket packages for upcoming events intended to lure back visitors to the city. The C$69 ($50) ticket package offers a Toronto Blue Jays game, a pass to the Toronto Molson Indy auto race and entry to World Wrestling Entertainment's Smackdown event during the week of July 8.

The WHO designation is routine for places with new cases of SARS, and a spokesman for the U.N. health agency said Toronto was nowhere near another WHO warning against travel to the city.

Canadian health authorities scrambled to limit any further spread while investigating how the new cases slipped through monitoring and reaction systems designed to halt the spread of SARS. In response to the new cases, health authorities re-imposed strict controls on Toronto-area hospitals — closing those where the new cases were found to new patients and limiting access only to emergency cases. — AP

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