SARS: Health Canada issues travel advisory

Health Canada is advising Canadians to avoid travelling to parts of Southeast Asia, as concerns grow over Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome (SARS). The federal agency says the risk to travellers appears to be low.

"However, because of recent increases in cases of SARS in Hanoi, Hong Kong and Singapore, transmission in these areas is not limited to the hospital setting," Health Canada's Dr. Paul Gully said.

• INDEPTH: Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome
  

SARS is a potentially deadly new strain of pneumonia that has caused worldwide health alerts since its discovery this month.

Dr. Margaret Chan, director of the Hong Kong Health Department, said seven people who came down with SARS had been on the ninth floor of Hong Kong's Metropole Hotel, between Feb. 12 and March 2.

Two of those people have since died. One of them was a 78-year-old woman from Toronto.

A man who is hospitalized in Vancouver with SARS also stayed on the ninth floor at the Metropole during the period in question.

The hotel connection is a breakthrough, "for those of us who are putting together the pieces of the puzzle," said Dr. Bonnie Henry, of Toronto Public Health.

"That helps us determine exactly how this got imported into Canada, and it links all of our family-related cases, so we can trace back all of those cases and know where it came from," she said.

One SARS case in the Greater Toronto Area remains unexplained.

A York Region man was hospitalized after recently returning from Asia, and health officials are reviewing his travel itinerary.

In Toronto, paramedics have been ordered to wear protective gear when dealing with any suspected SARS cases.

The World Health Organization has reported 10 deaths from SARS, including two in Canada.

World Health said Wednesday that the outbreak is under control outside of Asia.