In some quarters, the twin outbreaks hitting Asia have been compared to the devastating financial flu that sent regional economies into a tailspin in the late '90s - a shake-up that continues to dog key markets such as Hong Kong.
The city was only just recovering from the late '90s financial storm and now finds itself caught up in a new turbulence that threatens to blow its long-awaited economic recovery off course. At press time, Government officials talked pessimistically of the 7.2 per cent unemployment rate - already high by Hong Kong's standards - hitting eight per cent and as many as 10,000 companies closing.
Clearly, Hong Kong's fragile consumer sentiment is in for a severe bruising.
Local nerves have been frayed to the point of panic - residents have avoided crowded places such as restaurants and cinemas and even went so far as to strip supermarket shelves bare after a hoax website surfaced.
Other indicators confirm that Hong Kong is stumbling on a very slippery slope: Synovate found that a majority are hesitant to shake hands and Universal McCann revealed that 60 per cent were spending less on eating out, the biggest drop of all the markets the agency surveyed. The prospect that Hong Kong's flag carrier Cathay Pacific may ground its fleet is another psychological blow to a city and its residents who feel that control over their future has been effectively wrested from them.
More than anything, this major disaster reflects a leadership crisis in Hong Kong. Government messages are muddled - and at times downright gloomy as chief executive Tung Chee Hwa famously talked about the long-term damage to Hong Kong's economy.
Yet, leadership is what is needed to give Hong Kong some measure of confidence that SARS - like all challenges it has faced in the past - shouldn't be allowed to undermine the city's way of life and prosperity anymore than it has already done. And if the Government can't do it, it's time for the private sector to take up the challenge of communicating to the public that SARS carries a risk but so too will giving into their fears of the deadly virus. If residents continue to do so, they will feed a downward spiral and eventually fulfill Tung's assessment of a gloomy long-term outlook. To date, the business community has been quiet, which is so unlike them. Let's hope this is the result of business leaders quietly attempting to fashion a plan to restore Hong Kong's once-renowed spirit of resilence.
If not, it's time they gave this pressing issue serious thought.