Thousands of British tourists 'trapped' in their hotels

Thousands of British tourists are "trapped" in hotels in Beijing and elsewhere in China this weekend, prevented from sightseeing by the threat of Sars but unable to return home because of a shortage of seats on flights.

As Beijing police closed another hospital in the city, and more deaths were reported across the Far East, British travel agents acting on the World Health Organisation's warning issued on Wednesday struggled to organise a mass exodus of the 3,000 British tourists estimated to be in China.

Canada, which has reacted with anger rather than panic to the WHO's decision on Wednesday to brand Toronto with Hong Kong and Beijing as a city too dangerous to visit, announced yesterday in a show of defiance that it would move next week's cabinet meeting to its beleaguered largest city.

Jean Chrétien, the Canadian Prime Minister, said the outbreak "seems to be quite contained" after Toronto health officials said there had been no new cases of Sars in the community or hospitals since Monday. The disease has killed 19 people in the city, including a further three last night.

Mr Chrétien said: "We all believe that the World Health Organisation came to the wrong conclusion. We believe that Toronto is a good place to visit. It is a safe city." The WHO said yesterday there was still a "window of opportunity" to try to stop the Sars virus and prevent it becoming endemic. So far 4,649 people worldwide have been struck down by the pneumonia-type mystery virus and at least 279 have died.

David Heymann, executive director of communicable diseases for the WHO, said: "We have a chance, we believe, to stop this disease if we all work together." He said the greatest risk was if Sars reached countries, such as those in sub-Saharan Africa, where healthcare systems might not be able to cope and there was a large population with HIV and/or Aids.

The Philippines reported its first two deaths yesterday, with two more infected cases. In Beijing, officials ordered 4,000 people suspected of being exposed to Sars to stay at home two days after invoking emergency quarantine powers, and sealed off the 500-bed Ditan hospital.

Mark Watts, the managing director of Travelsphere, which has 1,000 British tourists in China and has cancelled all excursions, said every effort was being made to get them home but the position had been "complicated by the fact that many flights are fully booked or have very few seats available".

Two British tourists from Merseyside staying at the Capital Friendship hotel in Beijing said they had been told 16 hours after arrival that their 15-day holiday had been cancelled. Elizabeth Brady, 59, and Marie Ryder, 63, said they had been warned not to leave their hotel compound. "We have been told not to venture out as our insurance wouldn't cover us. It is really worrying."

A spokeswoman for the Association of British Travel Agents (Abta) confirmed that insurance was invalidated once the WHO and the UK Foreign Office added Beijing and Shangxi province to its earlier advice to avoid Guangdong province in China. "If you go against that advice and then catch Sars, the insurance company would not pay out because it is a known risk you have taken on," she said.

Tour operators had a duty of care to their clients under the package travel regulations and once the WHO/Foreign Office warning was issued they had to bring people back, she said. "Travellers should be eligible for a refund or an alternative holiday," she said.

Up to 4,000 British tourists were in China on Wednesday and up to 3,000 may still be there, according to Abta. Travelsphere, based in Market Harborough, said all its clients would be leaving by Monday but Bales Worldwide said it would take until Tuesday before all its tourists were able to get a flight home. Travelsphere said tourists who had taken out their travel insurance before the Foreign Office issued its advice "would be covered".