NORTH KOREA: North Korea has taken 20 foreigners into quarantine and sealed its borders, in a move that might threaten the delivery of emergency food aid.
"They cancelled May Day celebrations, stopped all flights and anyone coming in is put into quarantine for 10 days," said a Western resident in Pyongyang.
"They are taking it [the SARS virus\] very seriously, anyone from an affected area is being quarantined," he said.
The foreigners, who include two Western diplomats, are being kept together in a hotel near Pyongyang.
The country's only scheduled air link with the outside world, the twice-weekly Air Koryo flight to Beijing, has been cut since Saturday although it may still be possible to get in via a weekly flight from Vladivostock. The regular ferry service with Japan has been suspended.
The North Korean news agency, KCNA, denies that it has any suspected SARS cases within its border, an allegation made by the South Korean paper, the Korea Times. The measures taken at airports and sea ports are bound to interrupt the drip feed of foreign aid which keeps the fragile economy alive.
Five UN officials, responsible for supervising deliveries of food and aid that support at least a third of the population, are among those quarantined.