Jasper Becker on Asia's varied reaction to SARS
Many here in Beijing are already panicking as if the mystery flu which originated in southern China last autumn could lead to a worldwide pandemic on the scale of the AIDS crisis. Influential economists such as Morgan Stanley's Stephen Roach are forecasting it will tip the world into recession this year, and knock at least 1 per cent off Asia's growth.
So far the illness has claimed 80 lives and sickened more than 2,300 people on four continents.
Delegations from China have been asked not to attend conferences and trade shows, causing anger in China where the government has left its population largely ignorant of what is going on.
Foreign schools have closed, American diplomats are sending their wives and families home and some American multinationals have even resorted to disinfecting their offices to reassure panicky staff.
All international events scheduled -from hockey tournaments to the first Rolling Stones concert - are being cancelled.
As scientists scramble to understand the virus, the repercussions could be political as well as economic. The Hong Kong government's tardy and complacent response, especially when compared with Singapore's efficient response, has further inflamed public opinion against the Beijing-appointed governor Tung Chee-hwa who was already in trouble even before this crisis.
Most of all the crisis has cast doubts over the competence and honesty of the Chinese government at a time when the new leadership is trying to introduce reforms to the media and raise its credibility.
It has clearly misled its own public about the dangers and has withheld vital information to the World Health Organisation, thereby hindering measures to quickly isolate the outbreak and safeguard the lives of hundreds of people.
The first cases appeared in southern Guangdong province last November but the press kept silent although rumours about the disease spread rapidly causing panic buying of medicines. After the Roche pharmaceutical company drew attention to the run on its antibiotics, the government attacked the company, accusing it of spreading false rumours.
In February the Chinese government released a vague statement saying the virus had killed five people and infected 305 but the crisis was "basically under control". Instead, it spread rapidly to Hong Kong and from there all across the world but the government released no additional information for another six weeks.
As it spread rapidly Chinese journalists said they were under orders not to report on the panic it was causing around the world and among certain groups inside China, especially with access to foreign media reports on the Internet.
This week China drastically raised its death toll from the new disease, saying 31 people had died in Guangdong and admitting what it had earlier denied that there were three deaths in Beijing, and fatal cases in Shanghai and other provinces.
More than half the cases worldwide are now either in mainland China or Hong Kong.
China's health authorities have dragged their feet for two weeks to meet their promises to provide the WHO with daily updates from across China and to allow an investigative team to go to Guangdong and investigate the origins of the disease.
At its first press conference on Thursday, the Health Minister Zhang Wenkang again repeated bland assurances that the spread of the disease was "under effective control". This time his remarks were given front page coverage in the domestic press.
However, many Chinese have only taken this as clear evidence that the situation is worsening and the government is hiding the true extent of the epidemic.
The Communist Party has a long record of denying dangerous outbreaks, as well as the death toll in accidents and natural disasters which might sully its image.
China has long been suspected as a source of numerous worldwide epidemics including the 1918 flu epidemic and the Asian flu epidemic in 1957 and 1968.
Scientists suspect the strains develop easily in China because people not only live close together but also in proximity with pigs, chickens and other livestock. These factors may enable viruses to evolve that mix human and animal genes together and also ensures that the virus can quickly jump across species.