SARS threat 'coming under control' - WHO
The World Health Organisation today praised China for improved transparency and a “strong political commitment” to combating SARS, which it said has diminished as a global threat.
However, delegates at an international SARS conference in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia warned countries to remain vigilant of new infectious diseases.
The WHO also said it would not lift advisories warning against travel to Beijing and Taiwan until their SARS outbreaks are further contained.
“The global epidemic is now coming under control, but we must continue the fight against the disease nationally and internationally until the end,” Shigeru Omi, WHO director for the Western Pacific region, told more than 1,000 scientists, government officials and health experts.
Severe acute respiratory syndrome has exposed weaknesses in information-sharing, surveillance and health care, and countries must “be better prepared next time”, Omi said.
Officials from hard-hit places including mainland China, Hong Kong and Canada are discussing their responses to SARS during the two-day conference, which will also review scientific findings, control strategies and the possible role of animals in the outbreak.
SARS has killed about 800 people since it was first detected in southern China late last year. New infections globally have plunged in recent weeks.
“We must remember that in this region, we are more likely to be invaded by new microbes rather than by a foreign army,” Malaysian Health Minister Chua Jui Meng said in a speech opening the conference.
