¡¡¡¡BEIJING, June 24 (Xinhuanet) -- The World Health Organization (WHO) on
Tuesday removed Beijing from its list of severe acute respiratory syndrome
(SARS)-infected areas and lifted its travel advisory against the city.
¡¡¡¡The decisions took effect immediately, Shigeru Omi, WHO regional director
for the Western Pacific, announced here at a press conference jointly held by
WHO and China's Ministry of Health.
¡¡¡¡"The WHO has decided that the travel advisory against Beijing is lifted
with immediate effect," he said. "The WHO concluded thatthe risk for travelers
to Beijing is now minimal."
¡¡¡¡He also announced that Beijing was removed from the list of areas with
recent local transmission of SARS virus, "because the WHO concluded that the
chain of human-to-human transmission in Beijing has been broken."
¡¡¡¡Most of SARS cases in the Chinese mainland now can be traced back to known
probable cases and the isolation period of Beijing'slast SARS patient has been
longer than 20 days, Omi said.
¡¡¡¡Based on "careful analysis" of data provided by the Chinese government,
"most of the cases reported are now traced back to known probable cases," Omi
said while explaining why the UN health agency withdrew its previous concern
over some SARS cases with unclear transmission in China.
¡¡¡¡It was on May 29 that Beijing's last SARS patient was put into isolation,
which has been well beyond the 20-day period required by the WHO to remove a
location from the list of areas with recent local transmission, Omi said.
¡¡¡¡The patient was treated as a suspect case until June 11 when the case was
clinically confirmed as SARS, added Gao Qiang, vice-minister of health of China.
¡¡¡¡SARS has infected 5,326 people and killed 347 on the Chinese mainland so
far. In Beijing alone, a total of 2,521 SARS cases have been recorded, with 191
fatalities but reported no new SARS cases for consecutive 13 days as of Tuesday.
¡¡¡¡The WHO issued a travel advisory on April 23 against non-essential travel
to the Chinese capital.
¡¡¡¡"Today's development is a milestone for the fight against SARS not only in
China but also the world, because from today the WHO has no more advisory
against anywhere around the world," he said.
¡¡¡¡Meanwhile, the WHO official called for continued vigilance against the
disease in spite of excellent achievements. "Surveillance has to be maintained
for at least one year," he said. ¡¡¡¡
¡¡¡¡Gao Qiang said that China's life order has returned to normal and it is now
safe to travel to any place in the country.
¡¡¡¡"China' s efforts in fighting against SARS have been recognizedby the
international community and the WHO, and marks the thorough lifting of travel
advisory to any province or municipality on the Chinese mainland," Gao said,
referring to the WHO decisions.
¡¡¡¡He stressed that the WHO decisions indicated that China's efforts in
fighting SARS have achieved a significant, but not easy,victory.
¡¡¡¡China will establish an effective epidemic reporting system that will cover
various infectious diseases, Gao said, noting thatunder such a system the public
health department can timely collect, analyze and report information about any
disease that is highly infectious and poses severe danger to human health.
¡¡¡¡The reporting system will also cover measures adopted by the government and
its requirement in controlling diseases, it will caution the public to pay
attention to self-protection whenever epidemic cases are found, he said.
¡¡¡¡Gao said that information exchange with the WHO is a very important part of
the system, which is a very effective way in controlling epidemic diseases.
¡¡¡¡Omi said the WHO will carry out cooperation with China mainly in three
aspects, including the study on effective surveillance and diagnose measures,
the searching of the origin of the SARS virus and the improvement of Chinese
health-care system.
¡¡¡¡The Chinese health authorities are greatly concerned about the tasks to
successfully produce SARS vaccine, fast diagnosed test kits and SARS drugs, and
it is a vital scientific and technological research job that relied heavily on
scientists' continued efforts, Gao said.
¡¡¡¡But time is needed to make technical breakthroughs in developing the
vaccine and drugs for SARS, the vice minister said. ¡¡¡¡
¡¡¡¡Gao noted that the measures proven effective in fighting SARS should be
kept in place and the government and the people should keep vigilant before
technological breakthroughs were made to finally defeat SARS.
¡¡¡¡Gao said that Omi and Chinese Health Minister Wu Yi, during their meeting
Tuesday in Beijing, both stressed importance of closer international cooperation
to make technological progress to claim an eventual human victory over SARS.
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