China closes schools

BEIJING -- China ordered all public schools in its capital closed Wednesday, leaving almost 2 million students to study at home following a major jump in the number of reported SARS cases in the city.\nThe rise in SARS cases in China and in Canada led the World Health Organization Wednesday to warn against unnecessary travel to Toronto, Beijing and China's Shanxi province. The WHO already issued similar warnings about Hong Kong and the southern Chinese province of Guangdong, where the disease is believed to have originated.\nCanada has been the most affected area outside Asia, with 15 deaths so far, all in the Toronto area. Dr. David Heymann, WHO's communicable diseases chief, said the travel warning will be in effect for at least three weeks.\n"These areas now have quite a high magnitude of disease, a great risk of transmission locally -- outside of the usual health workers -- and also they've been exporting cases to other countries," Heymann said.\nExperts from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention arrived in Toronto to help officials figure out how to stop the spread of SARS within hospitals.\nThe advisory was criticized by Dr. Donald Low, chief microbiologist at Toronto's Mount Sinai Hospital.\n"This is really inappropriate and I don't know how they came to that conclusion," Low told Toronto radio station 680 News. "The fact we have not seen any further secondary cases over the last two weeks tells us it has been contained."\nOntario Premier Ernie Eves, under pressure to provide some relief to businesses affected by SARS, said such compensation could run into the "tens of billions of dollars. I don't see how any level of government can really get into that."\nMajor League Baseball also will advise teams visiting Toronto in the coming weeks against signing autographs, visiting hospitals, using public transportation or mingling with large crowds.\nAn estimated 4,000 people worldwide have been infected by SARS, and about 250 have died, mostly in Asia. Canada reported 15 deaths by Tuesday with 324 probable and suspected cases, while the United States has reported 38 probable cases and no deaths.\nThe Chinese school closure begins Thursday and lasts for two weeks through the May Day school holiday, said an official of the Beijing Municipal Education Commission who would give her name only as Miss Cui.\nCui would not give a reason, but Beijing newspapers cited a government notice saying the move was meant to prevent the spread of severe acute respiratory syndrome, which has killed at least 28 people in the Chinese capital. The closure will effect about 1.7 million students.\nExperts say they are looking for a sharp and sustained drop in new infections over weeks before SARS can be declared under control.