ABSTRACT - China carries out sweeping quarantine of thousands of Beijing residents who have had contact with suspected carriers of highly infectious repiratory illness called SARS, as Communist government begins resolute campaign to combat national health crisis; isolation orders are imposed on homes, factories and schools where people with SARS symptoms live, work or study; Communist Party cells in work units and neighborhoods ferry food and other basic necessities to people confined to their homes, while monitoring them to ensure they do not flee; white-and-yellow crime-scene tape is wrapped around city block in northwestern Beijing, sealing more than 2,000 health workers and patients inside Beijing Univ People's Hospital complex where more than 70 staff members are suspected of having SARS; new measures are contributing to growing sense of alarm around capital; reported deaths and infections continue to rise sharply; crowds of temporary laborers descend on major train stations seeking emergency passage out of city; Beijing now has total of 774 confirmed SARS patients; this figure is nearly 20 times higher than what Beijing was reporting five days ago, before central government fired two top officials and vowed to begin to report accurately; photo of masked Beijing shoppers stocking up on food (L) China carried out a sweeping quarantine today of thousands of Beijing residents who have had contact with suspected carriers of a highly infectious respiratory illness, as the Communist government began a resolute campaign to combat a national health crisis.

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