Kuala Lumpur: Forging a united front against Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome (SARS), Health Ministers from South East and North Asian nations assembled in Kuala Lumpur on April 26 to sketch measures to fight the disease, with the World Health Organisation (WHO) warning that all cases must be found to defeat the epidemic.

"We must be absolutely relentless in the search for every possible case. We cannot afford to miss a single person," head of World Health Organisation's Western Pacific Regional Office Shigeru Omi told the Ministers and experts on the SARS crisis.

The meeting in Malaysia is a prelude to an emergency summit early next week in Bangkok to evolve a common strategy against the disease.

"Now we are at crossroads. What we decide today and at the head of states meeting on April 29 next week will determine the future course of this outbreak," Omi said.

Commenting on the magnitude of the SARS problem, Omi said, "The threat posed by SARS is unprecedented…it is spreading to more countries every week and nations with SARS are experiencing great difficulties in containing it. Tourism has almost disappeared. Normal life has been severely disrupted. In some countries, schools and offices have been closed. International travel has been dramatically reduced."

He said China and Hong Kong have been worst hit by SARS, with a death toll of 230 and over 80 per cent of the 4,439 cases reported worldwide.

PTI