While health professionals do their best to reassure the public that the chances of catching the deadly SARS virus are minuscule, Canadians are intensely worried about the disease.

A poll conducted this week by Ipsos-Reid for The Globe and Mail and CTV suggests that 61 per cent of Canadians are concerned about contracting severe acute respiratory syndrome. And nearly half of those people — 27 per cent — say they are "very concerned."

The fear has caused people to assume a defensive posture, the poll suggests. Two-thirds of those surveyed said travellers arriving from SARS hot spots such as Hong Kong, Beijing and Singapore should be placed in quarantine — or not allowed to enter Canada — and Canadians should be prohibited from visiting those regions.

And while most Canadian cases have been in Ontario, specifically the Toronto region, fears about SARS were spread fairly evenly across the country, from a low of 50 per cent of respondents expressing concern in Saskatchewan and Manitoba to a high of 69 per cent in Ontario.

"What you've got here is the unknown," David Wright, senior vice-president for Ipsos-Reid, said yesterday. "People are hearing from professionals that, while it may be contained, there is a chance that you might get it."

The poll of 1,001 Canadians taken between Tuesday and Thursday is expected to be accurate within 3.1 percentage points 19 times in 20 if applied to the entire Canadian population.

It's natural for people to want to close the door when there is a fear of the unknown, Mr. Reid said.

This does not mean Canadians are at the panic stage right now, he said. "We are at stage, however, where people are being prudent."

Prudent to the point that 4 per cent of respondents, representing 500,000 adult Canadians, said they wear masks in public. A similar number wear gloves to avoid touching things that others have touched. Nine per cent have cancelled medical appointments. Nine per cent have avoided public transit. And 11 per cent have cancelled travel plans.

But while Canadians are fearful of visitors from other countries, Canada has become a source of concern.

A massive hunt was undertaken in Australia this week to find passengers who shared a flight to Melbourne from Toronto last Sunday with three children who were showing symptoms of the disease.

Late yesterday, however, Australian health authorities said it appeared that the illness afflicting the youngsters was not SARS.

"We're waiting for diagnosis of the other illnesses today to be in a position to rule out SARS," said Andrew Williamson, the manager of public affairs for Monash Medical Centre, where the children and their parents were in isolation.

"We're just taking these precautions because they had certain symptoms of pneumonia and also they came from Toronto. ... Because of the Toronto connection, that's why we're being supercautious."

Toronto is considered one of the international epicentres of the disease that, as of yesterday, was listed as the probable or suspected cause of infection of 187 people in Canada, up from 178 on Thursday. Of the current cases, 149 are in Ontario, 26 are in British Columbia, five are in Alberta, one is in Saskatchewan, four are in Prince Edward Island and two are in New Brunswick.

Although four international governments have advised their citizens against travel to Toronto, "travel, work, play and living here is safe," said Colin D'Cunha, Ontario Commissioner of Public Health.

He said a taxi driver told him yesterday morning that cabbies are afraid of allowing health-care workers to get into their cars.

Health-care workers who take appropriate precautions are no more likely to get SARS than anyone else, Dr. D'Cunha said. "We need to keep the risk in context," he added.

But health officials are remaining vigilant in their efforts to contain the outbreak. The medical officer of health in York Region, where two people have died of the disease, issued two more orders yesterday demanding that people who were asked to isolate themselves because of a brush with SARS remain quarantined. That brings the number of people receiving such orders across the province to six.

And one of those people in York Region who received an order this week has been taken to court for again violating the quarantine. That person could be looking at a $5,000 fine for every day the order is ignored, as well as police supervision.

Hanif Kassam, medical officer of health in York Region, said: "I would ask that [people] respect the directives from the health departments, not only in York Region but all throughout Ontario, to ensure that the health of the public is not being threatened."

Last night, the federal government announced that it will amend its usual Employment Insurance regulations so that people who have had to miss work for SARS-related reasons do not have to wait two weeks to collect benefits.

It will also drop its requirement for a medical certificate for SARS-related quarantine recommended or imposed on the claimant. The change will apply to claims submitted on or after March 30.

With a report from Lisa Priest