Timeline: March 2003

A patient from Hong Kong arrives in Singapore with atypical pneumonia.

All patients with suspected SARS after exposure to an index patient or ward were admitted to the isolation wards of the Prince of Wales Hospital in Hong Kong.

A total of 156 patients were hospitalized with SARS, of whom 138 were identified as having either secondary or tertiary cases as a result of exposure to our index patient.

WHO issues an emergency travel advisory, putting airlines on alert for cases of suspected atypical pneumonia among passengers. The advisory increases global awareness of SARS after cases in Singapore and Canada were also identified.

There are nine in Ontario, one in B.C. and one in Alberta.

Doctors in Germany say they have found signs of a paramyxovirus in blood samples from one SARS patient. Scientists in Hong Kong confirm the findings in samples of two other patients. Paramyxovirus is the family of viruses that includes the one causing measles. Scientists say the theory makes sense, since pneumonia can be a complication of measles.

Health Canada suggests people should postpone travel to high-risk parts of Southeast Asia, including Vietnam and Singapore. World death toll of SARS estimated at 11.

The WHO says a five-member team of infectious disease experts will be traveling to Guangdong where the illness is believed to have originated.

A Canadian man who shared a hospital room with Tse dies from SARS. He was in his 70s. Canadian scientists say they've isolated the virus in SARS. They find human metapneumovirus in six of the eight Canadian cases. The virus comes from the same family that gives people mumps or measles.

Singapore's health minister orders about 740 people who may have been exposed to SARS to quarantine to their houses for 10 days.

This gives health officials the authority to track infected people and issue orders to stop them from engaging in activities that transmit SARS.

Ontario declares a public health emergency and orders thousands of people to quarantine themselves in their homes. There are 27 probable cases of SARS in the province. Toronto hospitals begin barring visitors.

China dramatically ups the number of infections it has recorded, saying almost 800 people have infected with SARS and 31 from Guangdong and three in Beijing have died from the virus.

Ontario health officials tell a news conference that another person has died of SARS on March 28. The latest victim had a direct connection with the first person who died from the virus at Scarborough Grace Hospital, and was then transferred to York Central Hospital in Richmond Hill, near Toronto.

Sick Kids, like other hospitals treating SARS patients, is limiting visits and has cancelled elective procedures and outpatient visits until April 14.