Timeline: Hong Kong, 1997-2007
Feb. 21, 2003: A Chinese doctor staying at Hong Kong's Metropole Hotel comes down with a mysterious, deadly flu-like illness; before he succumbs to the disease, he transmits it to a number of other guests. The coronavirus — dubbed severe acute respiratory syndrome, or SARS — spreads quickly from its epicenter in China's Guangdong Province to the rest of the world, prompting the World Health Organization to issue a global health alert on March 12. Hong Kong goes into virtual lockdown: many flee abroad until the contagion is under control, while those who remain only venture outdoors wearing surgical masks, like this family at Hong Kong's Prince of Wales Hospital. The outbreak would go on to kill more than 770 people in 11 countries, but after China itself, Hong Kong is the area most affected: 1,755 people contract the virus, including several health care workers; 299 die.