Excerpts from two separate South China Morning Post articles today:

But six of eight deaths reported over the weekend were people ranging in age from 35 to 52 and Hospital Authority spokeswoman Elinda Luk said on Monday that officials were investigating what had happened.

The senior executive manager of Hong Kong's Hospital Authority, Liu Shao-haei, told a news conference Sunday he was "unhappy" to see deaths of the younger, fitter patients but offered no immediate explanation.

Seven more people in Hong Kong have died from the atypical pneumonia virus, the Department of Health said on Monday.

The latest deaths bring Hong Kong's total number of fatalities from severe acute respiratory syndrome (Sars) to 47.

The seven victims include two women with a history of chronic disease, aged 74 and 67. They died in Kwong Wah Hospital. Two men, aged 49 and 78, died in Princess Margaret Hospital. A 69-year-old woman and a 74-year-old man, with a history of chronic disease, died in Prince of Wales Hospital. A 95-year-old woman, also with a history of chronic disease, died in United Christian Hospital.

The department said an additional 40 patients with symptoms of atypical pneumonia were admitted to public hospitals on Monday. They include four health-care workers — two from Kwong Wah Hospital, one from Prince of Wales Hospital and one from Shatin Hospital — and five more patients from Amoy Gardens. The remaining 31 were new patients and contacts of patients with atypical pneumonia.

Some 229 patients have recovered from Sars and have been discharged from public hospitals. Of these, six were discharged on Monday, the department said.