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CNN Live At Daybreak
WHO Reporting More than 3,500 Confirmed Cases of SARS
Aired April 21, 2003 - 05:38 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
CAROL COSTELLO, CNN ANCHOR: Updating the outbreak of Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome, the World Health Organization reporting more than 3,500 confirmed cases of SARS. The international agency puts the number of deaths worldwide at 182. Included in those figures we just showed you, a nearby -- a nearly tenfold increase in cases in Beijing, boosting that city's total from 37 to 346. And Hong Kong reports the highest number of deaths from SARS in one 24 hour period.
CNN's Andrew Brown has an update live from Hong Kong -- good morning.
ANDREW BROWN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, Carol.
Actually, for once the biggest news probably isn't out of Hong Kong today. It's out of Singapore. We're getting a report now that 2,500 people in Singapore are going to be quarantined. These are people who are working in a wholesale vegetable market. They're being told to go home and stay home for 10 days. That market was linked to three SARS cases.
Previously, the Singapore government has claimed that it had the SARS pretty much under control and that it wasn't in the wider community. It looks like that may not be the case. And this certainly won't, this kind of news certainly won't be the kind of thing that will help an economy that's already in trouble.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
BROWN (voice-over): Wednesday evening at Singapore's Le Meridian and the piano player is performing another solo, quite literally. He's just about the only person in the lobby. This downtown hotel has never experienced occupancy this low. Only 30 percent of rooms are sold. The break even point is around 50 percent, so it's no wonder the management's been cutting costs.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We don't have any more new recruits, no overtime. We just ended a five day work week. Normally people work in Singapore six days in the hotel business, so it's five days. And with these measures, we should be able to cut down our losses.
BROWN: It's the same story all over town. SARS has depressed tourism, leaving many hotels and retailers without customers.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Business is very bad.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I think it's down by mostly 80 percent. BROWN: The government's predicted SARS will shave a half to one percentage point off annual growth. The good news is analysts say they don't see Singapore's electronics manufacturers being strongly affected by SARS since buyers will continue to source chips and other components from here. The bad news is these manufacturers are mainly supplying U.S. tech companies, which, according to some experts, are still in a fragile state.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Despite the results that we have seen in the last couple of days in Microsoft or Intel, both top line and bottom line growth still looks very sluggish, to put it mildly.
BROWN: While some Singaporean businesses may be racing into the red, Li Juan Shao (ph) is upbeat about his prospects. Each day he's paying 12 percent less for the taxi he drives around town, part of a special SARS discount.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Our company reduced our rent. You see, yes, this is how companies look into the welfare of taxi drivers.
BROWN: Mr. Lee regularly disinfects his taxi, but it'll take more than a clean machine to get the Singapore economy firing on all cylinders again. With new SARS cases reported each day, many people are staying away from bars and restaurants to reduce the risk of infection. Apparently they're being productive in other ways.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: If the couples, a husband and wife, spends many more time together, I think it's about time that for procreation.
BROWN: Love in the time of SARS is blossoming.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
BROWN: People at least seeing some silver lining in SARS. Singapore has 178 SARS cases. That's much lower than the number here in Hong Kong, where more than 1,000 people have Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome -- Carol.
COSTELLO: Kind of a silver lining, but not much of one, huh?
Andrew Brown, thanks very much for that live update from Hong Kong.
TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com
Aired April 21, 2003 - 05:38 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
CAROL COSTELLO, CNN ANCHOR: Updating the outbreak of Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome, the World Health Organization reporting more than 3,500 confirmed cases of SARS. The international agency puts the number of deaths worldwide at 182. Included in those figures we just showed you, a nearby -- a nearly tenfold increase in cases in Beijing, boosting that city's total from 37 to 346. And Hong Kong reports the highest number of deaths from SARS in one 24 hour period.
CNN's Andrew Brown has an update live from Hong Kong -- good morning.
ANDREW BROWN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, Carol.
Actually, for once the biggest news probably isn't out of Hong Kong today. It's out of Singapore. We're getting a report now that 2,500 people in Singapore are going to be quarantined. These are people who are working in a wholesale vegetable market. They're being told to go home and stay home for 10 days. That market was linked to three SARS cases.
Previously, the Singapore government has claimed that it had the SARS pretty much under control and that it wasn't in the wider community. It looks like that may not be the case. And this certainly won't, this kind of news certainly won't be the kind of thing that will help an economy that's already in trouble.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
BROWN (voice-over): Wednesday evening at Singapore's Le Meridian and the piano player is performing another solo, quite literally. He's just about the only person in the lobby. This downtown hotel has never experienced occupancy this low. Only 30 percent of rooms are sold. The break even point is around 50 percent, so it's no wonder the management's been cutting costs.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We don't have any more new recruits, no overtime. We just ended a five day work week. Normally people work in Singapore six days in the hotel business, so it's five days. And with these measures, we should be able to cut down our losses.
BROWN: It's the same story all over town. SARS has depressed tourism, leaving many hotels and retailers without customers.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Business is very bad.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I think it's down by mostly 80 percent. BROWN: The government's predicted SARS will shave a half to one percentage point off annual growth. The good news is analysts say they don't see Singapore's electronics manufacturers being strongly affected by SARS since buyers will continue to source chips and other components from here. The bad news is these manufacturers are mainly supplying U.S. tech companies, which, according to some experts, are still in a fragile state.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Despite the results that we have seen in the last couple of days in Microsoft or Intel, both top line and bottom line growth still looks very sluggish, to put it mildly.
BROWN: While some Singaporean businesses may be racing into the red, Li Juan Shao (ph) is upbeat about his prospects. Each day he's paying 12 percent less for the taxi he drives around town, part of a special SARS discount.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Our company reduced our rent. You see, yes, this is how companies look into the welfare of taxi drivers.
BROWN: Mr. Lee regularly disinfects his taxi, but it'll take more than a clean machine to get the Singapore economy firing on all cylinders again. With new SARS cases reported each day, many people are staying away from bars and restaurants to reduce the risk of infection. Apparently they're being productive in other ways.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: If the couples, a husband and wife, spends many more time together, I think it's about time that for procreation.
BROWN: Love in the time of SARS is blossoming.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
BROWN: People at least seeing some silver lining in SARS. Singapore has 178 SARS cases. That's much lower than the number here in Hong Kong, where more than 1,000 people have Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome -- Carol.
COSTELLO: Kind of a silver lining, but not much of one, huh?
Andrew Brown, thanks very much for that live update from Hong Kong.
TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com
