JUST IN CASE THE WAR ISN’T ENOUGH, here’s something to worry about:

The World Health Organisation mulled global travel restrictions as the incidence of a deadly respiratory disease escalated in Hong Kong and Singapore quarantined more than 700 people to contain its spread. . . .

As 25 more new SARS cases were reported in Hong Kong, the WHO head office in Geneva said a meeting planned on Tuesday will determine if there is need to impose travel restrictions to stem the spread of SARS, which manifests itself as a form of pneumonia.

Though it will probably turn out to be nothing major, this bothers me — particularly as I suspect that, through a combination of deliberate cover-up and simple underreporting, there are a lot more cases than we know about.

UPDATE: A friend who does business in China emails:

I cancelled my trip to Guang Dong, China, scheduled for the first week of April, because of SARS. I always fly into Hong Kong, then take a train or boat up to our factories in mainland China. I figured it wasn’t worth the risk. It’s funny that the illness is labeled SARS, and Hong Kong is called SAR.

This, of course, is why the Chinese have been downplaying it.