On February 21, 2003, Dr. Luu Kiem Luan entered the 911 room of the Metropole Hotel in Hong Kong, unaware that he was the initiator of a series of tragedies.

In early February 2003, Professor Liu, 64, worked part-time at Ton Trung Son Hospital in Guangdong, where several patients with unexplained pneumonia were treated. 45 patients and medical staff at the hospital suffered from this disease. The first case was thought to be a seafood seller from Guangzhou, capital of Guangdong province, hospitalized on January 31, 2003.

Doctor Liu has a fever, but after taking antibiotics, he still feels well enough to take the bus to Hong Kong to attend a grandson's wedding. He and his wife went shopping and had lunch with them on February 21, 2003. Until 17:00 that day, he went to the Metropole Hotel in Kowloon and rented a room of 911. Although he only stayed here for one night, he came in contact with many other guests in the elevator or lobby.

On the morning of February 22, Liu suffered from fever, difficulty breathing and a fast heartbeat. He walked to nearby Kwong Wah Hospital and was taken to the emergency department. Liu told Hong Kong doctors that he did not have "recent pneumonia" in the mainland.

However, Liu was wrong. The pneumonia he mentioned is SARS (Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome) and it is true that he is infected with the virus. Liu died on 4/3 in Hong Kong.

The SARS epidemic started in Guangdong in November 2002, the virus spread from bats to civets sold in markets and spread to humans. China initially hid information and lowered the severity of this outbreak. It was not until Chiang Yan Yong, a retired Chinese military doctor, exposing cover in early 2003 that most of China and the rest of the world were aware of the real danger.

On 10/2/2003, China reported this outbreak to WHO. WHO declared on 12/3/2013 a global emergency. The epidemic spread in 37 countries and territories, killing more than 8,000 people and killing 813. 80% of victims in China, Hong Kong alone recorded 299 deaths. SARS easily spreads with symptoms such as fever, chills, body aches and often progresses to pneumonia, with a mortality rate of 10%.

Not only was Dr. Liu the first SARS patient in Hong Kong, he was also considered a "super communicator", having infected at least 23 people at the hotel, many of whom were on the same 9th floor as him. Liu's brother-in-law also contracted SARS and was admitted to the hospital on March 1, 2003, on March 19, 2003. 80% of SARS cases in Hong Kong are thought to have originated from Liu.

According to WHO, more than 4,000 deaths from SARS around the world are related to Liu's stay at the 9th floor of Metropole Hotel in Hong Kong, but the way he spread the virus to other hotel guests is still a thing. secret.

Some investigators believe that Liu may have vomited in front of the hotel room's door and passers-by have been infected by the virus. WHO officials confirmed the virus transmission took place in the lobby of the 9th floor of the hotel, not in the rooms, elevators or halls.

Chinese-American Johnny Cheng, opposite Dr. Luu's room at the hotel, brought the SARS virus to Vietnam. Cheng was admitted to Vietnam-French Hospital on February 26, 2003 with symptoms of fever, coughing, difficulty breathing. A few days later, Cheng's family hired a special aircraft to take him home, leaving Vietnam-France Hospital a series of feverish nurses and doctors with the same expression as him. Cheng died on March 13, 2003.

Italian doctor Carlo Urbani, WHO's infectious disease specialist, was one of the people who examined Cheng. He soon realized the abnormality and immediately alerted WHO, and at the same time, joined the Ministry of Health of Vietnam to promote the establishment of an isolation barrier to prevent the spread of disease. However, he himself contracted SARS and died on March 29, 2003.

SARS infected 65 people and 5 died in Vietnam. On 28/4/2003, Viet Nam was recognized by WHO as the first country to control the epidemic, ending 45 days of fighting SARS.

On February 23, 2003, the woman Kwan Sui-Chu, who was also staying at the same hotel with Dr. Liu, returned to Toronto from Hong Kong. She died at home on March 5, 2003, after infecting her son Tse Chi Kwai. Tse then infected others at Scarborough Grace Hospital and died on March 13, 2003.

On March 1, 2003, Singapore girl Esther Mok, another guest at the hotel, was admitted to Tan Tock Seng Hospital after returning home from Hong Kong. Although she survived, some family members who were infected from her did not survive.

On March 4, 2003, a 27-year-old man came to visit guests on the 9th floor of the hotel, taken to the Prince of Wales Hospital in Hong Kong. At least 99 health workers were infected while treating him.

The SARS epidemic was controlled in 2003 and no cases have been reported since 2004. The current Covid-19 epidemic is derived from the corona virus strain similar to SARS.

British businessman Steve Walsh was considered a "contagious person" Covid-19 after becoming ill for attending a conference in Singapore and spreading it to 11 others after arriving at a ski resort in France. He recovered on February 11.

Countries with patients infected with corona virus. Click on image to see details.

Catherine Chim, an accountant who lived near the building that used to be the Metropole hotel in Kowloon, said that Hong Kong's fear of Covid-19 was worse than that of SARS in the past. Hong Kong recorded 56 cases of Covid-19, a 39-year-old man who once went to Wuhan died.

"We have 17 years to prepare. We cannot let what happened 17 years ago repeat," said Dr. Alfred Wong at Tuen Mun Hospital in Hong Kong.