CAMBRIDGE, England -- The SARS epidemic centered in China has become a global issue. Most people in the world, even if they are not infected or in serious danger of infection, are indirectly affected by the restrictions on freedom of movement and economic downturns directly attributed to reactions the disease.
Take me for example: Colleagues, students, family and friends have been affected and my own work program and holiday plans have been seriously disrupted.
This morning I received an e-mail from an English friend who is a student at Inner Mongolia University in Hohhot. She has been virtually imprisoned ("quarantined") on the campus for some weeks now. Cambridge students I teach were supposed to go to Beijing for the second half of their courses; they have been sent to universities in the United States and Europe instead.