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Toronto is now the North American epicentre of the outbreak that began last autumn in Guangdong and which Chinese authorities kept secret. Canada's largest city now has more cases of Sars than any place outside of Asia, and the number of suspected cases rises every day.

So far, the disease has infected more than 2,200 people in 16 countries, killing more than 70, including more than half a dozen Canadians.

The fatality rate is about 4%, almost twice that of the deadly flu pandemic that swept the world in 1918-1919, killing as many as 100 million people. There is no cure for Sars, although patients are being treated with anti-viral drugs.