By IPS Correspondents
BLANTYRE, May 26 2003 (IPS)

The Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome, which has been reported in Southeast Asia and Canada, is causing panic in Southern Africa.

A week after Zambia quarantined travellers from Southeast Asia to verify their status in the wake of SARS outbreak, Malawi’s health authorities have followed suit.

The ministry of health has banned travellers from Canada, China, Hong Kong, Philippines, Inner Mongolia, Taiwan and Singapore to prevent the deadly lung disease from entering Malawi, says health minister Yussuf Mwawa.

Taiwan – one of Malawi’s emerging trade partners – has cancelled a visit by a business delegation to attend the two-week Malawi International Trade Fair, which opened in the commercial capital, Blantyre, on May 24.

"Taiwan has voluntarily agreed not to send its delegation to Malawi for the Fair. Ambassador Chen of Taiwan is agreeable and sympathises with our concerns," says Mwawa.

A committee on SARS, headed by health secretary Richard Pendame has been put in place and would work closely with the Malawi Immigration Department to check on visitors from SARS-infected regions, he says.

Chancellor Kaferapanjira, chief executive of the Confederation of Chambers of Commerce and Industry, which organises the annual fair, has said the Taiwan pavilion, would be manned by locally based Taiwanese mission staff.

Taiwan, along with China and Hong Kong, is one of the hardest hit by SARS. Seventy-two Taiwanese have died of the disease since March. The total number of cases is now 585.

Worldwide, the SARS death toll stands at around 730 deaths. Up to 9,000 people have been infected, according to the World Health Organisation (WHO).

Chui Shu-ti, the health chief in Taiwan’s capital, Taipei, resigned on Sunday, becoming the second health official to step down in the past two weeks allegedly over failure to control the disease.

An outbreak of SARS in Malawi, with a population of about 10 million, could pose debilitating effects on the country’s weak public health services, according to Mwawa.

When the SARS scare reached the sub-region after it was first reported in March the government of Malawi said it had no resources to put up any preventive mechanisms.

Taiwan has been one of the traditional patrons at the Malawi International Trade Fair, since it was established 14 years ago.

The Taipei-based China External Trade Development Council (CETRA) says the Malawi trade fair has boosted trade between Taiwan and the landlocked southern African state, which is a net importer. According to CETRA, Taiwan’s exports to Malawi were worth 3.4 million U.S. dollars, reflecting an increase of 147 percent of trading, in 2001, while Malawi’s were around 7.3 million U.S. dollars.

This year’s Malawi International Trade Fair has attracted more participants than last year’s. Some 217 local companies are participating in the fair, while foreign exhibitors have come from Germany, Pakistan, United Arab Emirates, Tanzania, South Africa, Zambia, Kenya, Mozambique and Zimbabwe, according to the organisers.

They say the increase in participation was a sign of confidence in anticipated growth of the Malawi economy, but have expressed concern over SARS travel restrictions.

Prospects for economic growth were raised last week following the fall in Malawi’s inflation rate – from 14.8 percent in December to 9.8 percent in April. It is the first time that a single-digit inflation rate has been achieved in seven years in Malawi.

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