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Who lifts travel warnings { May 23 2003 } Original Source Link: (May no longer be active)
http://reuters.com/newsArticle.jhtml?type=topNews&storyID=2804014http://reuters.com/newsArticle.jhtml?type=topNews&storyID=2804014
WHO Lifts SARS Travel Warnings, Taiwan 'Worrisome'
Fri May 23, 2003 06:03 AM ET
By Carrie Lee and Alice Hung
HONG KONG/TAIPEI (Reuters) - The World Health Organization (WHO) on Friday withdrew its warning against travel to Hong Kong and the southern Chinese province of Guangdong, saying the SARS outbreaks there were under control.
The U.N. health agency said that while the spread of the lethal flu-like virus on Taiwan was "worrisome," as the island reported 55 new cases on Friday, it did not suggest "an explosive escalation."
WHO issued its travel alerts on April 2 when the disease was spreading rapidly in Hong Kong, which has the highest number of cases and deaths from SARS outside mainland China.
The new disease is believed to have first emerged in Guangdong in November but only reached neighboring Hong Kong in March. It was then spread around the world by travelers.
"We are changing the travel advice for Hong Kong and Guangdong, effective Friday, 23 May," WHO director-general Gro Harlem Brundtland said in a statement.
"The outbreaks in Guangdong and in Hong Kong are being contained."
Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome has infected more than 8,000 people worldwide and killed 682 since emerging in southern China late last year.
The illness, fatal in about 15 percent of cases, is caused by a virus linked to the common cold and has no standard treatment. It is spread by coughing, sneezing or touching infected objects. Symptoms include a fever, dry cough and shortness of breath.
HONG KONG CASES
Hong Kong said on Friday SARS had killed two more people in the territory and infected two others, the 20th day in a row that daily infections there have been in single digits.
The figures bring the death toll from SARS in Hong Kong to 260 and the cumulative number of cases to 1,724, a hospital official said.
China reported three more deaths and another 20 infections in the 24 hours to 10 p.m. EDT on Thursday, taking its totals to 303 deaths and 5,285 cases.
Canada was investigating four possible cases, a week after it was declared SARS-free, in a grim reminder of the resilience of a disease for which there is no vaccine or standard treatment.
The new infections in Taiwan took the number of probable SARS cases there to 538, behind only China and Hong Kong, and followed a record daily increase of 65 cases on Thursday.
"While the daily numbers of new cases indicate the size of the SARS outbreak in Taiwan, which is worrisome, they do not suggest an explosive escalation in the number of cases, as both older and new cases are being reported together on a daily basis," the WHO said in a statement published on its Web site.
The U.N. agency said it would send another two people to non-member Taiwan to reinforce a two-person team sent there in early May to help the island cope with the disease.
An infection control specialist from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention was airlifted from Taiwan to the United States after he went down with SARS-like symptoms including a fever and muscle pain.
The Sheraton Taipei Hotel, where the U.S. expert had been staying, has closed for three days for disinfection.
The WHO said it wanted $200 million to help developing countries fight the virus, half of it for China.
Health officials fear SARS could become more lethal if it erupted in Africa where countries are already ravaged by AIDS.
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