Hong Kong ? Hong Kong reported a record 12 deaths in a single day from the SARS virus Saturday, while Singapore’s leader warned that the outbreak could become the worst economic crisis his city-state has ever faced.

The concern about severe acute respiratory syndrome is so strong that Vietnam was considering closing its border with China, where the disease is believed to have originated. The global death toll hit at least 185, with at least 3,000 people infected so far.

Hong Kong had 81 of those deaths — or about 44 percent — and was becoming the global epicenter for the disease, for which there is no proven cure.

Critics wonder whether mainland China was covering up information about the disease because it has reported just 67 SARS deaths. Premier Wen Jiabao demanded timely and honest reporting of SARS cases after China was accused of hiding the real number of infections within its borders.

“Anyone who covers up SARS cases or delays the release of information will be harshly punished,” Wen was quoted as saying in Saturday’s China Daily, a state-run English-language newspaper.

Singapore’s prime minister, Goh Chok Tong, said Saturday the SARS outbreak could become the worst economic crisis the city-state has ever faced. He also announced tough new measures to try to contain SARS, including prison sentences for people defying quarantine orders.

“SARS will knock you backward, it may even kill you, but I can tell you SARS can kill the economy, and all of us will be killed by the collapsing economy,” he said.

Residents of Lower Ngau Tau Kok housing estate in Hong Kong receive free bleach distributed by a charity organization. Hong Kong had a massive cleanup Saturday in an attempt to slow the spread of SARS.

Hong Kong tried to calm its 6.8 million residents Saturday by launching a cleanup campaign also intended to reassure international companies that the territory was a safe place to do business.

The Hong Kong health secretary, Dr. Yeoh Eng-kiong, put on rubber gloves to stir up a mixture of water and bleach — which can kill the SARS virus — and then started scrubbing the floor of a downtown vegetable market.

“Personal hygiene and environmental hygiene are two important objectives,” Yeoh said.

Hong Kong later reported 31 new SARS cases Saturday for a total of 1,358. The 12 new deaths were a daily record in Hong Kong, but officials tried to emphasize that far more patients were recovering than dying, with another 41 people discharged. That increase the number of people released in Hong Kong after being diagnosed to 363.