Beijing Mayor Sacked In SARS Scandal

Hong Kong announced six new SARS deaths Monday, hours after the territory's leader expressed confidence in beating the flu-like disease, while the mayor of Beijing was reportedly fired following a huge increase in reported cases in the Chinese capital.

Chinese President Hu Jintao said the ruling party and his government were "giving top priority" to fighting SARS, newspapers said.

News of the firing of Beijing Mayor Meng Xuenong, reported in state newspapers on Monday, came a day after he and China's health minister were dismissed from key Communist Party posts. That followed an announcement by the Health Ministry that the number of SARS cases in Beijing had jumped from 37 to 339 — nine times as many cases as previously reported.

A Beijing city government spokesman declined to confirm the firing of the mayor, who was appointed three months ago.

But detailed accounts in state-run newspapers said senior party officials accused Meng of failing to gather information on SARS, track new infections and trace people who might have been exposed to the mysterious ailment.

The gambling enclave of Macau, about 40 miles west of Hong Kong on China's southern coast, reported its first suspected case of severe acute respiratory syndrome, which has killed at least 211 people worldwide. More than 3,800 people have been sickened.

Schoolchildren are preparing to head back to class after officials ordered all schools closed last month in an attempt to stem the rising number of infections, reports CBS News' Katherine Arms. Officials said schools would open in stages, with younger children going back possibly next week.

Despite 25 deaths over the past three days, Hong Kong Chief Executive Tung Chee-hwa said health officials were making "good progress" in tackling the disease.

He said quarantine measures and efforts to find people who came into contact with those infected seem to be working, helping to identify 150 suspected SARS cases.

"The figures are stabilized," Tung told reporters, but he made no predictions about how long it would take to control the outbreak.

Hong Kong has suffered the heaviest impact, with 94 fatalities and nearly 1,400 people sickened. Six deaths and 22 new cases were reported Monday.

Mainland China is close behind with 79 deaths reported and more than 1,800 cases of infection.

China on Sunday joined other Asian governments in increasingly drastic efforts to stem the spread of SARS, calling off its weeklong May Day vacation in hopes of stopping tens of millions of Chinese from traveling. Singapore said all 2,400 employees at its main vegetable market will be quarantined after three people there fell ill.

China's new urgency about SARS comes after weeks of criticism at home and abroad of its slowness in responding to pleas for information and cooperation in fighting the disease.

SARS dominated Chinese state media on Monday — a striking change from weeks of limited coverage or outright silence. The popular Beijing Times tabloid devoted its first six pages to the disease — news articles on the top and advertisements for disinfectant and medicines on the bottom.

The newspaper Health News said the government was putting 900 million yuan ($109 million) into SARS prevention in poorer western regions of China.

In Hong Kong, the education secretary said schools would reopen in stages, with students wearing surgical masks to reduce the risk of contracting SARS. Schools were closed after some students fell ill, although experts say there is no sign that the virus was spread in classrooms.

Older students are to return to class Tuesday, while other schools reopen next Monday, said Education Secretary Dr. Arthur Li. Some schools plan to stay closed because of anxiety about the disease, according to government spokeswoman Iris Tang.

In Macau, a 38-year-old saleswoman was in quarantine with the territory's first suspected case of SARS after complaining of symptoms including a cough and fever, the Health Bureau said.

The former Portuguese colony has been free of SARS, despite its proximity to Hong Kong, 40 miles to the east.

The woman in quarantine had not traveled out of Macau recently or come in contact with a SARS patient, the government said.

In Singapore, health ministry officials were preparing Monday to quarantine at home all 2,400 workers at Pasir Panjang Wholesale Center — the city-state's main distribution point for imported fruits and vegetables.

A 10-day shutdown at the market is expected to significantly disrupt Singapore's supply of fresh produce, the Ministry of National Development said.

Another 467 people already are confined to their homes in the island nation. Singapore has reported 16 deaths.

Toronto public health officials want to find six people on two commuter trains last week who sat close to a woman with SARS.

Dr. Barbara Yaffe says the six sat near a nurse who works at Toronto's Mount Sinai Hospital.

Ironically, on one of the trips, the three other passengers sitting with the nurse discussed SARS and one was apparently reading from a communicable disease handbook.

Visitors have been banned from a Vancouver hospital ward after doctors learned a patient apparently has contracted SARS from a nurse. Doctors at Royal Columbian Hospital believe the nurse contracted severe acute respiratory syndrome from another patient at the hospital.

Meanwhile, the Philippine health secretary said Monday that a Filipino nurse who died of suspected SARS may have contracted it from the mother of a roommate in Canada, which has suffered 14 SARS deaths.

The 46-year-old nurse died in a Manila hospital on April 14 after returning from Toronto via Tokyo earlier this month.

Health authorities said they were monitoring 254 people the woman was known to have come in contact with in the Philippines. Four have been hospitalized with fevers, Health Secretary Manuel Dayrit told reporters.