Police barricade Hong Kong apartment block over virus

Masked police used metal barricades and tape to seal off a Hong Kong apartment building quarantined today after 107 residents came down with a mystery disease that has thrown Hong Kong into crisis.

Workers piled up supplies of rice and toilet paper to be loaded into the Amoy Gardens apartment complex, where more than 240 people were ordered to stay put for 10 days.

One woman cooped up inside a 482-square-foot apartment with her husband and three children said she supported the quarantine, although her daughter missed a school exam and their lunch was brought in late.

"If they let people out, they could spread the disease," Anna Yuen told The Associated Press by telephone. "This is just the first day. It's not that bad."

Yuen, a customer services representative, said she had been taking the stairs to reach her fourth floor apartment since Wednesday, out of fears the disease could spread in the elevator.

A poultry shop employee who works nearby said his mother-in-law lives in Block E and was stuck inside "in a rotten mood." Danny Chow admitted he, too, was nervous about the outbreak of severe acute respiratory syndrome, or SARS, that has killed at least 59 people globally, 13 of them in Hong Kong.

"Even if you don't have it, you feel like you do," Chow said. "I feel a lot of psychological pressure."

One resident of Block E complained over the telephone to Cable TV that the isolation order had come too suddenly - as Hong Kong's took its most drastic step yet to try to contain SARS.

The man, who did not identify himself, said he would spend his time surfing the Internet, playing video games and reading books in the confines of Block E, a congested 33-story building in Hong Kong's middle-class Kowloon Bay neighborhood.

Health officials said Monday that 92 new cases of SARS were found at Amoy Gardens, for 213 total in the complex. About half of the cases are from Block E. The other 18 buildings in Amoy Gardens have not been sealed off.

Some criticized Hong Kong for refusing to repay people for time they will miss at work.

"I think officials should give me money as compensation," a resident who identified himself as Mr. Tam said on radio RTHK.

One woman said she thought people in jail probably got better treatment.

"They only gave me a loaf of white bread," said the woman, identifying herself to TVB television as Ms. Lam. "Have they thought about our feelings? I haven't been jailed before, but I understand that prisoners even get newspapers to read."

Anyone who leaves Block E without official permission could be fined or jailed, said the director of health, Dr. Margaret Chan, who ordered the isolation quarantine in the wee hours.

Many residents had already fled in fear, stirring worries that if they are sick they could spread the disease further in the community.

"Who knows who has it and who doesn't?" said one woman, M.L. Wong, who was wearing a mask - like thousands of others in Hong Kong - as she walked through the Wanchai district on Monday morning.

One resident from the adjacent Block F said her family was planning to move to a friend's house later Monday.

"I am not panicking, but my family members are very worried about getting infected," said Sonia Lo, a 30-year-old who has taken this week off from her job as a bank clerk.

"We haven't been out often these days and very few people are walking along the streets outside," Lo told the AP by telephone. "It's very different from normal days when the street is packed with people."

Housewife Leung Pik-chu, from another Amoy Gardens building, said leaving is not an option.

"Where can I move?" Leung asked. "Everyone is afraid of me."