More than 700 people quarantined

SINGAPORE -- The government of Singapore ordered about 740 people who may have been exposed to a mysterious flu-like illness to stay home Monday for 10 days in efforts to contain the disease, which has sickened hundreds of people worldwide.\nHealth Minister Lim Hng Kiang said he was invoking the Infectious Diseases Act for what could be the first time since Singapore gained independence in 1965.\nThe city-state of 4 million people has recorded 65 cases of severe acute respiratory syndrome, or SARS, including 14 new cases reported Monday, Lim said. Twelve patients are in serious condition, he added.\n"The number in (intensive care units) will increase, unfortunately, and there may be fatalities," Lim told reporters. "A stronger wall is now created to break the chain of infection."\nQuarantined people caught outside their homes could face fines of up to $2,825 for a first infraction and $10,000 for a second offense, officials said.\nAlso Monday, Hong Kong officials reported 18 new cases of the disease, bringing the total to 260, and said two more patients had died -- a man in his 60s who was infected with a blood disease as well as SARS and a man in his 40s who had hepatitis as well as SARS.\nMany Hong Kong residents wore surgical masks as they went around town, hoping to avoid infection. A high fever, combined with coughing, shortness of breath or difficulty breathing, are some of the symptoms.\nDr. William Ho, chief executive of Hong Kong's Hospital Authority, became sick Sunday night, but it was not clear whether he had caught SARS, the authority's chairman, Dr. Leong Che-hung, said. Ho was hospitalized in stable condition Monday, Leong said.\nThose on the quarantine list in Singapore included people who may have had exposure to infected people, including children at a school and a day care, which will be closed for the duration of the quarantine.\nEntire households will be quarantined and the government plans to arrange to deliver groceries to them and compensate people who could suffer financial difficulties due to lost income, Lim said.\nNational Environment Agency officers will monitor the quarantined people daily, checking for symptoms of the disease, the health ministry said in a statement.\nSARS has made 386 people around the world ill and killed 11 people in the past three weeks, according to the latest World Health Organization figures.\nThe United States has reported 22 suspected cases, the WHO said. The State Department on Saturday warned Americans not to travel to Vietnam, one of the first countries affected.\nOfficials suspect SARS is linked with an earlier atypical pneumonia outbreak in mainland China's Guangdong province that killed five people and sickened 305. A World Health Organization team that arrived over the weekend in Beijing said Monday it was analyzing the Chinese cases in the scramble to unravel the disease.