Economic downturn since SARS virus

Southeast Asia is suffering from the worst economic crisis in half a decade. The reason behind it is the SARS virus, the New York Times (NYT) http://www.nyt.com reports. Five years ago the crisis was caused by a wave of bank failures and currency devaluations, which overtook the region and left it devastated. Hong Kong's, Singapore's and Taiwan's economies have actually begun to shrink. Not far behind are the economies of Malaysia and Thailand.