Understanding the spatial diffusion process of severe acute respiratory syndrome in Beijing

Spatial analysis is helpful in understanding the spatial diffusion process of an epidemic. The geographical relationships were important during the early phase of the SARS epidemic in Beijing. The statistic based on the number of doctors was significant and more informative than that of the number of hospitals. It reveals that doctors were important in the spread of SARS in Beijing, and hospitals were not as important as doctors in the contagion period. People are the key to the spread of SARS, but the population density was more significant than the population size, although they were both important throughout the whole period.