ABSTRACT
The SARS is a new potentially fatal infectious viral respiratory illness caused by a novel coronavirus, named the SARS-associated coronavirus (SARS-CoV) (Ksiazek, 2003; Peris, 2003; Rota, 2003; de Jong, 1997). The main symptoms of SARS (Ksiazek, 2003) are high fever, dry cough, shortness of breath, and breathing difficulties. The first SARS outbreak occurred in Guangdong Province, China in November 2002. Aided by international air travel, it had spread worldwide by late February 2003. The first outbreak of SARS officially ended when World Health Organization (WHO) announced that the last human-to-human transmission of the coronavirus had been broken on June 5, 2003. From the data compiled by WHO in August 2003, there were 8437 cases of SARS in 29 countries of which 813 were fatal (CDC, 2004). Singapore is one of the more severely affected countries, which includes China (including Hong Kong and Taiwan), Canada, and Vietnam. The economic cost of the SARS outbreak has been high with disruption of commerce and
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health care. With the diminished number of overseas travelers, the tourism and airline industries were particularly affected.
