The 2002–2004 outbreak of SARS, caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus (SARS-CoV or SARS-CoV-1), infected over 8,000 people from 30 countries and territories, and resulted in at least 774 deaths worldwide.

[3] The major part of the outbreak lasted about 8 months, and the World Health Organization declared SARS contained on 5 July 2003.

[5][6] On 16 November 2002,[11] an outbreak of severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS) began in China's Guangdong province, bordering Hong Kong.

[15] The People's Republic of China notified the World Health Organization (WHO) about this outbreak on 11 February 2003, reporting 305 cases including 105 health-care workers and five deaths.

[22][23] A fishmonger, named Zhou Zuofen, checked in to the Sun Yat-sen Memorial Hospital in Guangzhou on 31 January, where he infected 30 nurses and doctors.

He had come to attend a family wedding gathering; Liu was on the staff at Sun Yat-Sen Memorial Hospital in Guangzhou and had treated SARS patients.

By the morning of 22 February, he knew he was very sick and walked to the Accident and Emergency Department of Kwong Wah Hospital to seek treatment.

He was treated by the triage nurse and doctor without protective measures even though a memorandum on surveillance of severe community-acquired pneumonia had been issued by the Hospital Authority of Hong Kong.

After Liu's chest X-ray taken in Kwong Wah Hospital became available, staff became aware of the situation, wearing personal protective equipment and full isolation inside the ICU.

[27] The virus was carried to Hanoi, Vietnam, by Chinese-American Johnny Chen, a resident of Shanghai who had roomed across the hall from Liu at the Metropole.

[27] On 23 February, an elderly woman named Kwan Sui-Chu who had also been a Metropole Hotel guest, returned to Toronto, Canada, from Hong Kong.

[28] On 1 March, 26-year-old Esther Mok, another Metropole guest, was admitted to Tan Tock Seng Hospital after visiting Hong Kong, starting the outbreak in Singapore.

[35] On 4 March, a 27-year-old man, who had visited a guest on the Metropole's 9th floor 11 days earlier, was admitted to Hong Kong's Prince of Wales Hospital.

One theory speculated that the virus was spread by airborne transmission, through dried up U-shaped P-traps in the drainage system which a maritime breeze blew into the estate's balconies and stairwell ventilation.

Fifteen of the quarantined Amoy Gardens residents at Lei Yue Mun Holiday Camp were relocated to the Sai Kung Outdoor Recreation Centre after an overnight protest on washroom sharing.

[citation needed] On 8 April, SARS was discovered in the Lower Ngau Tau Kok Estate near Amoy Gardens in Kowloon.

[53] On 10 April, Jim Hughes, the head of infectious disease at the CDC, confirming the warnings of Hong Kong health officials, claimed that he believed that SARS could no longer be eradicated in the Far East.

[57][58] On 19 April, Premier of the People's Republic of China Wen Jiabao announced that there would be severe consequences for local officials who did not report SARS cases in a timely and accurate manner, signaling a major change in policy.

SARS had also been gaining prominence in the mainland Chinese media; by late April, it had jumped from virtual invisibility onto the front page, with daily reports from all provinces on new cases and measures.

In the news conference chaired by Gao Qiang several hours earlier, the PRC admitted that in Beijing there were more than 300 cases, as opposed to the previous figure of only 37.

[65] On 24 April, the Hong Kong Government announced an HK$11.8 billion relief package designed to assist Hong Kong's battered tourism, entertainment, retail, and catering sectors, consisting of a waiver of tourism- and transport-related license fees, and HK$1 billion allocated for tourism promotion overseas.

The economic impact was becoming dramatic as shops, restaurants, markets, bars, universities, schools, and many other businesses had closed, while some government ministries and large state banks were working with minimal staff levels.

On 29 April, leaders of member countries of ASEAN and the PRC premier held an emergency summit in Bangkok, Thailand to address the outbreak.

[citation needed] On 20 May, the WHO refused to lift the Tourism Warning for Hong Kong and Guangdong, but did so three days later after a recount of the number of SARS patients.

[73][74] On 27 May, the Taichung City Government, led by mayor Jason Hu, established a command center in central Taiwan to handle SARS.

[citation needed] On 5 July, WHO declared the SARS outbreak contained and removed Taiwan from the list of affected areas.

[citation needed] On 31 January, China announced the fourth case of SARS as a 40-year-old doctor from the southern city of Guangzhou, and gave his family name as Liu.

[82] The first 2 infected cases involved a postgraduate student and a researcher at the National Institute for Viral Disease Control and Prevention (abbrev.

On 18 May, after no new infections had been reported in a three-week period, WHO announced China as free of further cases of SARS, but stated that "biosafety concerns remain".

In May 2005, Jim Yardley of the New York Times wrote: "Not a single case of the severe acute respiratory syndrome has been reported this year [2005] or in late 2004.