Hong Kong: The Sars crisis hurt many Hong Kong businesses, but stay-at-home citizens gave local websites a shot in the arm. Web ratings firm Nielsen NetRatings said many people surfed the Web for essential medical information and news, shopping, and education.

'The Sars crisis had a profound effect on internet audiences in Hong Kong,' said Peter Steyn, sales and marketing director, Nielsen NetRatings Hong Kong. 'At the height of the crisis in April, the number of active Internet users increased by 13 per cent compared with the previous month - the fastest month-on-month growth in more than two years.'