Meanwhile, the WHO has dismissed criticism that it has exaggerated the threat posed by Sars.
City health officials, chastened by the experience of SARS, quickly quarantined the hotel and its nearly 300 guests and employees.
The death count is tiny alongside the 36, 000 Americans killed each year by the flu, but SARS is just getting under way.
The fresh warnings are another blow to the beleaguered tourism industries in Southeast Asia which have already been hit by the impact of the SARS virus, Iraq war and October 12 Bali bombings.
The growth is flattered by poor economic performance last year, when the economy was hit by Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome (Sars).
MyTravel, based in Greater Manchester, is struggling in the face of a protracted travel sector downturn triggered by the war in Iraq and the Sars outbreak.
The Organisation of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC), the oil-producers' cartel, estimates that SARS has reduced Asian oil demand by 300, 000 barrels per day.
Lufthansa, which said that demand on its Asian routes has fallen by as much as 85% thanks to SARS, has said it will ground 15 more planes and reduce working hours for ground staff.
"Currently, we have identified no infectious agent common to all of the cases, " the statement said, adding that no evidence exists that the cases were caused by exposure to chemical or biological weapons, SARS or environmental toxins.
Part of the growth has been driven by demand caused by everything from anthrax to bird flu to SARS. But much of it has come from 48-year-old Lim's gutsy push to ramp up quickly in a low-tech commodity business to gain an edge over his dozens of rivals.
Part of the growth has been driven by demand caused by everything from anthrax to bird flu to SARS. But much of it has come from 48-year-old Lim's gutsy push to ramp up quickly and cost effectively in a low-tech commodity business to gain economies of scale and an edge over his dozens of rivals.
Emirates, the fastest growing airline in the Middle East, is in a strong position as many of its rivals are struggling to cope with an unprecedented industry crisis brought on by September 11, an economic downturn and the SARS outbreak in Asia.
Some doctors had reported positive results using ribavirin, an anti-viral medicine used mostly against hepatitis C, as a treatment for SARS patients who had been worst-hit by the disease in Hong Kong and elsewhere.
It was also used by the government of Hong Kong to track the outbreak of SARS in 2003.
Many Americans may already be immune to SARS. That's one of the theories offered up by veterinary researchers who have long fought off similar viruses in animals.
Both Indian shows were brought forward by a week as a result of the mystery virus, known as Sars, that has so far killed more than 80 people worldwide, mainly in Asia.
He became boss of Boeing's commercial-aircraft division, which he ran for eight years and steered through the violent shocks inflicted on the industry by the slumps in air travel after the terrorist attacks on America in September 2001, the SARS scare and the Iraq war.
Coronaviruses are a large family of viruses ranging from the common cold to the Sars (severe acute respiratory syndrome) virus, spread through droplets of body fluids produced by sneezing and coughing.
The alarming statements by the WHO and other UN agencies last week may in part have been prompted by a widespread feeling that health authorities in Asia failed to act quickly enough last year to contain the SARS virus, a hitherto unknown human infection.
At the time, both sectors had been hit by the effects of the war in Iraq, a so-so economy and severe acute respiratory syndrome, or SARS. The latter, a viral illness first reported in Asia, was blamed for 774 deaths in 2003 and whipped up fears that aircraft cabins were prone to contagion.
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