SARS: An Open Scar | Timeline

Apr	1	Two more people in Toronto have died of SARS, health officials confirm. Both were patients in their 70s being treated in hospital for other ailments. That brings the Canadian death toll to six.
Apr	2	The WHO issues a travel advisory to Hong Kong and Guangdong.
Apr	4	U.S. adds SARS to the list of communicable diseases, so that a suspected person can be quarantined against their will.
Apr	5	Ontario health officials report that one more person has died from SARS in the morning bringing the Canadian death toll up to eight. The latest victim was being treated in isolation, after being transferred to Toronto Western Hospital from the Scarborough Grace Hospital where the original SARS cases were reported in the region.
Apr	5	Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao declares it is safe to travel to China.
Apr	7	A 74-year-old woman died in Picton, Ontario.
Apr	8	A Chinese military doctor blames the government for hiding the truth in a letter sent to journalists, saying there are more cases and deaths in Beijing than the official figures. Singapore says it will deploy army medical personnel to help fight SARS and considers the idea of installing webcams in people's homes to enforce quarantines.
Apr	11	Canadian Blood Services disallow people who have recently traveled to certain countries in Southeast Asia to give blood. Although there's no scientific evidence that SARS can enter the bloodstream, agency says it's a necessary precaution.
Apr	12	Health officials report that three more people have died of SARS in the Toronto area, bringing the Canadian death toll up to 13. The victims contract the virus by direct contact with SARS patients in the hospitals.
Apr	14	Researchers in Canada announce they sequenced the genome for the coronavirus suspected to cause SARS. Seven more people die in Hong Kong, bringing the country's death toll up to 47, and another 40 probable cases are reported bringing the number up to 1108.
Apr	15	Ontario Premier Ernie Eves says people forced to take time off work or whose businesses are affected by SARS won't be getting any money from the government.
Apr	16	WHO doctors visit two military hospitals in Beijing and say the Chinese government has excluded patients in military hospitals in its official reports. The WHO confirms a previously unknown form of coronavirus is the cause of SARS and recognizes it as the 'SARS virus'.
Apr	17	Health officials in Hong Kong say they believe the virus was not transmitted in water or in the air in the Amoy Gardens housing complex, but could be spread by contact with fecal matter from an infected individual through a leaky sewage system.
Apr	18	Health officials urge people to stay home and not attend public religious events. In Catholic churches, communion wafers are handed to instead of placing them in people's mouths.
Apr	19	Royal Columbian hospital near Vancouver is closed because of fears that a second nurse there has SARS. Healthcare workers treating SARS patients are now required to wear goggles in addition to gowns, masks and gloves.
Apr	20	A 99-year-old man who dies in the Toronto area on April 19 is Canada's 14th victim.
Apr	22	A 64-year-old man who is hospitalized as a probable SARS patient, is Ontario's 15th SARS victim.
Apr	23	Toronto Mayor Mel Lastman declares it is safe to live in and visit Toronto. He says linking Toronto and China is a "gross misrepresentation of the facts" because the disease is not spreading through the community.
Apr	24	Health Canada protest against World Health Organization, saying the UN health agency should take back its Toronto travel advisory. Health Canada says WHO based its warning on outdated information.
Apr	25	Public health officials in Toronto insist the SARS outbreak is under control. They announce three more people have died of the illness and that no new probable cases of SARS in the Toronto area since April 9 except for some health care workers.
Apr	26	A 79-year-old woman in Toronto becomes the 21st person in Canada to die of SARS.
Apr	27	Ottawa appeals Taiwan's decision to turn back Canadian travelers because of fears they might have SARS. Taipei announces it will temporarily stop issuing visitor and residency visas to people from countries hardest-hit by SARS.
Apr	28	Heritage Minister Sheila Copps, a Liberal leadership contender, criticizes her own government for its handling of the SARS crisis in Canada. She directly blames Health Minister Anne McLellan for the delayed federal response to the SARS outbreak.
Apr	29	World Health Organization has also lifted its travel advisory after experts looked at new SARS data. This is only three days after WHO issued the advisory and sparked protest in Canada.
Apr	30	A 72-year-old male and a 39-year-old male, the youngest person to die of SARS in Ontario, Canada; the same day the World Health organization lifts its travel advisory against Toronto.

Timeline: April 2003