Panic as China's SARS toll rises

Travel agent Shen Chen has had some unusual emails in the past few days at the big Taikoo-CITS agency in Beijing which caters to an up-market clientele of foreign law firms and multinational companies.

The emails come from the head offices of these clients, telling the agency not to sell tickets to local staff if they want to go to the southern Chinese province of Guangdong, Hong Kong or Singapore.

International schools in Beijing and other Chinese cities have meanwhile seen a quiet exodus of students, as families leave early for the Easter break, with the United States and some other foreign embassies and big oil companies authorising special leave allowances.

As a result of the outbreak of severe acute respiratory syndrome, principals stand poised to shut their schools down at short notice, a move that would start a rush for the airports.

Many foreign residents are disturbed that if they come down with illness, they will not be treated at one of the foreign-staffed international clinics and hospitals operating in Beijing, but transferred to a special medical facility for foreigners that will be opened at the Beijing University Medical Centre.