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SARS
TIMELINE
Nov. 16,
2002
The first case of Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome (SARS),
occurs in China’s southern province of Guangdong.
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Mid-February 2003
China’s government reports 305 cases of atypical pneumonia and
five deaths in Guangdong province.
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Feb. 10
The World Health Organization (WHO) learns that the cases of
atypical pneumonia began in November in China.
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Feb. 14
Chinese authorities say the disease is under control.
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Feb. 21
A professor, who treated patients in Guangdong province, travels
to the Metropole Hotel in Hong Kong. He infects 12 other guests
who spread the disease by travel to Vietnam, Canada and the
United States.
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Feb. 26
Doctors in Hong Kong report the first cases of what they
called SARS.
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Feb. 28
Cases of SARS appear in Vietnam, similar to those in Hong
Kong.
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March
12
The WHO issues a global health alert stating that a new,
unrecognizable, flu-like disease may spread to health-care
workers.
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March
14
Canada reports its first case of SARS.
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March
15
The WHO issues an emergency travel advisory, saying SARS
is spreading worldwide. At the time, the agency did not
restrict travel to any parts of the world. Instead, it
warned travelers to be aware of the illness’ symptoms and
to inform airport personnel if someone on their plane had
those symptoms.
March 18
Doctors in Germany say they have found signs of a
paramyxovirus in blood samples from one SARS patient.
Scientists in Hong Kong confirm the findings in
samples of two other patients. Paramyxovirus is a
family of viruses that includes a pathogen causing
measles. Scientists say the paramyxovirus theory makes
sense, since pneumonia can be a complication of
measles.
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March 20
Hong Kong health officials link the global spread of
SARS with the guest in a local hotel. Epidemiologists
trace the illness back to the Chinese professor who
stayed at Hong Kong's Metropole Hotel.
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March 21
The Chinese government asks WHO for help investigating
the outbreak in Guangdong province. A team of WHO
experts travels to the region.
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March 23
Scarborough Grace Hospital in Toronto closes
temporarily because of SARS. The chief of Hong Kong's
Hospital Authority is admitted to hospital with
pneumonia-like symptoms. Doctors are not sure if he
caught SARS.
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March 24
CDC scientists say they have strong evidence that a
type of coronavirus, which also causes the common cold
and infects animals, may be responsible for SARS.
March 26
Ontario declares a public health emergency and orders
thousands of people to quarantine themselves in their
homes.
March 27
Passengers on international flights sitting near those
with SARS come down with the disease, prompting WHO to
tell Canada, Hong Kong and Singapore to screen
passengers on flights.
March 31
Hong Kong’s health department issues an isolation
order, requiring residents of an apartment block to
stay inside until April 9 to stop the spread of SARS.
April 3
The CDC warns against all non-essential travel to Hong
Kong, China, Singapore and Hanoi. Hong Kong relocates
the citizens of an infected apartment block to
isolation camps.
April 4
President Bush issues an executive order allowing
the quarantine of healthy people suspected of being
infected with SARS but who do not yet have symptoms.
April 7
The WHO recommends people consider postponing all
non-essential travel to Hong Kong or Guangdong
province. The WHO sends a team to Guangdong province
to investigate the outbreak’s origins.
April 8
Doctors in China say there are more SARS cases than
the government is reporting. Hong Kong reports 40 new
cases a day for three days in a row. The CDC reports
receiving a record number of phone calls from the U.S.
public about SARS.
April 9
The WHO says China may be withholding information
about SARS.
April 14
Canadian scientists sequence the DNA of the
coronavirus believed to cause SARS.
April 16
Scientists in the Netherlands confirm that a new
form of coronavirus, other types of which cause the
common cold, is the cause of SARS.
April 17
Hong Kong officials report that SARS spread through
a leaky sewage system in an apartment complex where
a quarter of the territory's 1,300 cases were
identified.
April 18
China responds to criticism about how it is handling
the SARS epidemic by being more open about cases.
April 20
China, under fire for not disclosing the extent of
its SARS infections, raised its number of cases to
1,807 from 1,512. Soon after, the health minister
and mayor of Beijing were dismissed from their
posts. Meanwhile, SARS changed the rituals of Easter
in Toronto forcing parishioners not to embrace or
share the communion cup. Also, Singapore quarantined
2,400 people who worked at a vegetable market
because a worker died there of SARS.
April 22
Hong Kong sends 200,000 secondary school
students back to class after a three-week hiatus
as efforts to contain SARS seem to lower the
daily case numbers. Concern about spread from
China remains. U.S. Centers for Disease Control
and Prevention specialists arrive in Toronto to
help with infection control.
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April 23
Beijing keeps 1.7 million primary and
secondary students from school until May 7.
WHO issues a travel advisory against Beijing,
China's Shanxi province and Toronto. The alert
already existed against Hong Kong and China's
Guangdong
province.
April 24
China seals off a major hospital with a
staff of 2,300 people in Beijing and
issues quarantine orders to contain SARS.
Meanwhile, anxious residents of the
capital city stormed supermarkets fearing
food shortages and others left the city.
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April 25
Beijing closes a third hospital and
quarantines approximately 4,000 people.
Asian officials meet to create strict
travel checks at airports and seaports.
Meanwhile, Canadian officials say WHO may
re-evaluate the travel advisory the agency
issued against Toronto.
April 26
Asian health ministers call for strict
pre-departure checks on passengers at
airports and seaports in an attempt to
battle SARS.
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April 27
China shuts down all theaters, cinemas
and other places of entertainment in
Beijing in an effort to curb the
spread of SARS.
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April 28
The WHO says outbreaks of the deadly
flu-like SARS have peaked in Canada,
Singapore, Hong Kong and Vietnam,
but not in China, where the virus
first emerged last year. The WHO
also says Vietnam is the first
country to contain the disease and
lifted a travel advisory against the
country. Meanwhile, Canada announces
it is increasing SARS airport
screening and will hold an
international SARS conference this
week.
April 29
The Association of Southeast
Asian Nations meets at an
emergency SARS summit in Bangkok
and China and Taiwan commit
funding to fight the disease.
Meanwhile, the WHO lifts its
travel advisory against Toronto.
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April 30
Beijing's new mayor says the
SARS crisis is severe and Hong
Kong reports some patients
deemed recovered from the
illness have suffered relapses.
Meanwhile, Canada holds the
first international SARS
conference in Toronto and WHO
says the SARS death rate
worldwide has nearly doubled,
from 6 percent to 10 percent.
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May 1
China's May Day celebrations are
quiet due to SARS and a hospital
to treat victims of the disease
opens on the outskirts of
Beijing. Gene sequences of the
virus that causes SARS are
published in a scientific
journal.
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May 2
China says Beijing cases of SARS
may be leveling off.
May 5
Singapore says it has
SARS under control, with no
new cases in 48 hours.
Meanwhile, China reports 160
more cases and World Health
Organization doctors visit
Taiwan, where cases tripled in
two weeks.
May 18
WHO investigators link a SARS
outbreak in a Hong Kong
apartment complex to leaky
sewage pipes and fans that
spread contaminated droplets.
More than 300 people in the
complex were infected, and 35
died. Asian airport officials
agree to implement health
declaration cards for
passengers and temperature
screening by mid-June.
May 20
The WHO announces that 16 of
the more than 7,800 people
infected worldwide with SARS
got the disease while aboard
an airplane. All cases
occurred before airlines began
screening passengers for
symptoms.
May 21
Health and Human Services
Secretary Tommy Thompson says
that the SARS virus will
reappear in the United States
and Europe next flu season.
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Sources: Centers for
Disease Control and Prevention and World Health
Organization
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