A report from Hong Kong's legislators criticising the government's handling of last year's outbreak of severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS) has led to two resignations.

Hong Kong's secretary for health, welfare, and food, Dr Yeoh Eng-kiong, and the chairman of the Hospital Authority, Dr Leong Che-hung, have resigned in the wake of a report from a select committee of Hong Kong's legislative council. Last year's SARS outbreak in Hong Kong infected 1755 people and killed 299.

The report strongly criticised Dr Yeoh for not being sufficiently alert when an outbreak of atypical pneumonia occurred in Guangdong province, China, in early 2003, and for poor communication with the public at the start of the outbreak. He was also censured for failing to adequately supervise the head of the Department of Health, Dr Margaret Chan, and for failing to properly monitor the Hospital Authority.

Dr Leong was blamed for the authority's failure to put in place adequate contingency plans to deal with a large outbreak of an infectious …