A father, 68, succumbs after his daughter became the city's first case following a trip to the south Shanghai has reported its first death from Sars, the father of the city's first patient. The 68-year-old man, surnamed Li, contracted the virus after his daughter returned from a business trip to the south. The city health bureau announced he was a confirmed case last month. Authorities had repeatedly said his condition was stable. Officials declined to comment on the death. Shanghai has unveiled new quarantine rules backed by fines and jail terms to prevent Sars. It has joined an increasing number of eastern cities who have introduced a strict policy of isolation despite having few declared cases. Two nearby provincial capitals, Nanjing and Hangzhou, have already quarantined thousands in measures that some residents have criticised as heavy-handed. Newspaper announcements said Shanghai would quarantine for two weeks residents returning from affected areas. Visitors from affected areas must report to authorities and have their temperatures taken twice a day, but they will not be quarantined, the announcements said. People who violated the rules would be punished, the statement said, marking the first time the local government has legislated for this. A government spokeswoman said punishments included fines and jail terms, but did not give details. Officials declined to say how many people in Shanghai had been quarantined. The contact numbers for the city's latest four confirmed cases have reached 275 and these people have been isolated. Shanghai now has five confirmed cases and one death from the virus. Nanjing, capital of Jiangsu, has quarantined nearly 10,000 people, while Hangzhou, capital of Zhejiang, has isolated a total 1,800 since late April. A spokeswoman for the Nanjing government said: 'Based on the experiences of Beijing and Guangdong, we are quarantining people.'' Jiangsu has only four confirmed cases, including one in Nanjing, compared to more than 2,000 in Beijing. More than 400 people under quarantine in Nanjing can be traced back to one man, the deputy general manager of Jiangsu's Xinhua Bookstore Distribution Group. Newspaper reports say he flouted quarantine rules and initially did not tell authorities that he had visited Beijing, an affected area, even after showing symptoms. The man, Jin Guohua, was now a suspected case, officials said. Analysts said the quarantine response had been achieved because officials were worried about their jobs after the sacking of the health minister and Beijing's mayor for their handling of the outbreak. One health expert said: 'The situation in China is serious enough that very drastic measures are needed.' One student at Hangzhou's China Fine Arts Academy was caught in the quarantine net after returning from a school trip to Hunan aboard a train which was found to have three suspected cases. The school quarantined him and 30 classmates for two weeks in a dormitory on campus, providing meals and books, for what the students considered to be a long holiday. 'We were very happy,'' said Fei Yang, a third-year student. Zhejiang has three confirmed cases. Shanghai has tried to soften the blow from Sars by offering subsidies to companies in industries affected by the virus. The local government will use a special fund to compensate airlines, hotels, travel agencies and taxi companies. Smaller travel, catering and entertainment firms can apply for guarantees for short-term loans.
