- (AFP) -- China reported no confirmed cases of SARS for
the third day this week, as the World Health Organization (WHO) said the
peak of the epidemic was over both globally and in China.
-
- While the WHO said it was getting ready to lift travel
restrictions in parts of northern China, it warned against complacency,
citing the case of Toronto where infections have multiplied again after
a lull.
-
- "We dare to say that the SARS epidemic is over its
peak," Henk Bekedam, chief representative for the WHO in China, told
a news briefing Thursday. "We can see it globally and we can also
see it in China."
-
- China on Thursday reported no new cases of SARS and two
new deaths in the last 24 hours.
-
- It marked the third day this week that no new cases were
reported in China and the eleventh consecutive day in which the nation
worst-hit by the pneumonia-like respiratory virus recorded fewer than 10
new cases.
-
- The total number of infected in China remains 5,329 with
336 fatalities.
-
- "The figures are down, but Toronto has reminded
us that if we don't continue our measures we can through just one misdiagnosis
have a general outbreak," Bekedam said.
-
- Seven of Toronto's 32 SARS-linked deaths have been linked
to a second outbreak that was made public on May 22.
-
- To prevent a SARS epidemic from recurring in the future,
the Chinese government would need to beef up its surveillance systems,
Bekedam said.
-
- Bekedam told journalists his organization would soon
review travel advisories on the provinces of Hebei, Shanxi and Inner Mongolia
and Tianjin municipality.
-
- "In the very near future, we hope that (the restrictions)
will be lifted," he said.
-
- "We need a little bit more of data ... especially
concerning local transmission, and where the last cases were."
-
- The WHO late last month lifted a travel warning on south
China's Guangdong province, where SARS originated, as well as to Hong Kong.
-
- Bekedam told AFP a decision on the four regions could
be made within the next 24 or 48 hours, while a decision on Beijing remained
a more remote prospect.
-
- "If Beijing continues for another 20 days like this,
or three weeks like this, it might go very fast," he said.
-
- "If they continue doing like they do now, and especially
if they have more patients discharged from hospital, we'll need to look
into it," he said.
-
- In Beijing, 118 people have died from SARS, while 2,522
have been infected in the city worst hit in the global outbreak.
-
- The WHO said it saw no need to doubt the figures for
the Chinese capital, but warned against complacency.
-
- "We think the reported figures are believable for
Beijing, but we need to stay vigilant to protect Beijing against recurrent
disease here," said Anne Schuchat, a WHO advisor.
-
- "We need to learn more about this virus in order
to make sure we can prevent new outbreaks from occurring," she said.
-
- According to a WHO press statement, WHO experts were
finalizing arrangements with the Ministry of Health for visits to Tianjin,
Shanxi and Inner Mongolia.
-
- "There appears to be three main reasons that the
spread of SARS seems to have been stifled (in China)," the statement
said.
-
- Travel centers like railroad and bus stations are closely
monitored to identify possible SARS cases, it said.
-
- People returning to rural provinces from infected areas
are put into quarantine for two weeks and the use of fever clinics for
the diagnosis and isolation of potential SARS cases is widespread, it said.
-
- The WHO urged Chinese health authorities to regularly
update prevention guidelines and stressed that infection control measures
in hospitals needed to be improved, it said.
-
- Copyright © 2002 AFP. All rights reserved. All information
displayed in this section (dispatches, photographs, logos) are protected
by intellectual property rights owned by Agence France-Presse. As a consequence
you may not copy, reproduce, modify, transmit, publish, display or in any
way commercially exploit any of the contents of this section without the
prior written consent of Agence France-Presses.
|
