South Korea is scrambling to keep the spreading mysterious flu-like illness out of its border.

The National Institute of Health met in an emergency meeting and decided to tighten inspections of travelers arriving from overseas trips. Travelers coming from mainland China, Hong Kong, Vietnam and Singapore ... areas hardest hit by the illness ... will be monitored by health officials until the 10 day-incubation period of the disease passes. Travelers suspected of infection will be isolated and treated at eleven designated hospitals nationwide.

On Tuesday, British Prime Minister Tony Blair cancelled his visit to China and Thailand has declared the illness as a contagious disease. In the U.S. state of California, officials quarantined a plane from Tokyo after five people arriving from Hong Kong were said to have displayed symptoms of the deadly virus. In Canada, the deadly illness claimed two more lives.

The epidemic has now spread to 22 different countries, sparking emergencies measures across larges swathes of Asia.