Hong Kong: Twelve more SARS (Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome) patients died in Hong Kong, pushing its toll to 81, officials said on April 19, even as a largely symbolic clean-up was organised by government leaders struggling to restore the territory's badly tarnished image.

The 12 deaths were the most in a single day in Hong Kong since the outbreak of SARS flared last month. Thirty-one new cases were reported on April 19, bringing the total number of infections in the territory to 1,358.

Seven of the new fatalities were elderly people who had other chronic illnesses, health officials said. But the rest were younger, fitter patients, joining a group of SARS victims whose recent deaths have raised worries about how deadly the little- understood disease can be.

Earlier, Hong Kong's health secretary used a bleached mop and rags to help scrub down a vegetable market during a massive clean-up staged by officials and volunteers in hopes of helping Hong Kong bounce back.

"Personal hygiene and environmental hygiene are two important objectives," Dr Yeoh Eng-kiong said.

Thousands of volunteers, from housewives to government officials, fanned out to clean housing, restaurants and shopping malls.

Meanwhile, a Hong Kong woman with symptoms of SARS fled a hospital in Indonesia's resort island of Bali on April 19, a doctor said.

The patient, identified as Jessica Wong, 35, slipped out of the Sanglah hospital in Denpasar after being treated overnight, Dr Wayan Sujata told Elshinta radio.