China:
The situation in Beijing seems chaotic, with university students rushing home to rural areas, against recommendations. At least 3 hospitals have been quarantined, with staff, visitors and patients inside. There is a heavy police presence, with road blocks in some parts of the city. The New York Times reports, "As Beijing undertook the stringent new program of quarantines to halt the spread of SARS, or severe acute respiratory syndrome, reported cases in the capital continued to surge for the fifth straight day. One hundred and three more cases were confirmed as of Thursday evening, bringing the total number of reported cases in Beijing to 877."

Passing information about SARS can be called "rumour-mongering" in China, which could get you arrested, according to an Agence France-Presse article: It would seem that the laws against 'disinformation' are applied only against the people, not against the Party members who lied about the SARS epidemic.

"Police in several areas of China are cracking down on people spreading rumors about SARS and trying to take advantage of the health crisis by making money through scams, state media said on Friday. In southwestern China's Chongqing city, police arrested an employee at a computer company for posting a message on an Internet chatroom claiming a district of Beijing had 7,000 to 8,000 SARS patients, the China Police Daily said."


TIMEAsia noted more discrepancies in case-reporting, in Shanghai. The WHO expert team, in Shanghai, has not made a public report of its findings.

"World Health Organisation officials believe privately that China is still hugely under-reporting cases. Despite promises of full co-operation, they fear that many more cases in rural areas are still not being reported," according to the Times Online. April 23, the WHO expert team in Shanghai, "clearly indicated that they feel there are probably more cases in Shanghai than have been reported," according to the tele-conference from WHO.

Hong Kong:
April 25 -- 1510 cases (an increase of 22), 115 deaths (an increase of 6). The recent deaths include patients as young as a 35-year-old man and a 42-year-old woman.

April 26, -- A 28-year-old man became the youngest fatality in Hong Kong's SARS epidemic. It was the 116th death.

Channel NewsAsia reported that, "...Recent cases involved highly infectious patients who did not have the typical SARS symptoms of high fever and cough. Among them are elderly people who have a lower body temperature, making it even more difficult to detect SARS cases... "

How often does SARS kill?
SARS' Mythical Mortality Rate will soon be assessed--with hard data --
Professor Roy Anderson of Imperial College London has studied 1400 SARS cases. He will publish his findings in a British medical journal, next week. Based on these cases, he estimates that worldwide, SARS patients will have an 8-15% chance of dying. Read more, from the BBC

The complete SARS Update for April 26 is here.