CHINA: Hong Kong's health minister resigned yesterday following a public outcry over poor handling of last year's SARS outbreak, a move likely to help ease pressure on the unpopular administration.
A report into the handling of the SARS outbreak, published on Monday by Hong Kong's Legislative Council, criticised Secretary for Health, Mr Yeoh Eng-kiong, and other health officials.
"Dr Yeoh, in order to give expression to the spirit of accountability, has tendered his resignation," Hong Kong leader Tung Chee-hwa told a news conference. The resignation comes within a week of a huge anti-government rally to demand more democracy in Hong Kong.
Mr Yeoh was the third minister to quit under public pressure in just under a year. Last July, Hong Kong's security and financial secretaries resigned after a big march in protest against an anti-subversion Bill and poor governance.
Hong Kong was one of the areas worst-hit by Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome. The virus emerged in southern China in late 2002 and soon spread to Hong Kong where it killed almost 300 people and infected nearly 1,800.
The outbreak cost the city billions of dollars in lost sales and pushed the economy into its third recession in six years. People travelling out of the city unknowingly took the disease to other parts of the world. Eventually, SARS spread to 30 countries, infected more than 8,000 people and killed about 800.
When the disease first spread in Hong Kong, Mr Yeoh repeatedly denied it was doing so. - (Reuters)