WHO Says Over 5,000 SARS Cases Reported Worldwide

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Last updated at: (Beijing Time) Tuesday, April 29, 2003

WHO Says Over 5,000 SARS Cases Reported Worldwide

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A cumulative total of 5,050 probable severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS) cases with 321 deaths have been reported from 26 countries as of Monday, said the World Health Organization (WHO) on Monday.

The organization said this updated figure represented an increase of 214 cases and 28 deaths compared with its last report on Saturday.

The new deaths were reported from China (9), Hong Kong Special Administrative Region (17), and Singapore (2).

WHO said due to time differences, the updated statistics include cases and deaths from China only for Sunday, not for Monday.

In a recent public address, WHO Director General Dr. Gro Harlem Brundtland observed that the situation with SARS was at a stage where "we have a chance to contain it."

Meanwhile, she added that efforts by countries needed to be maintained and preventive-measures implemented.

The outbreak of the first SARS case was reported last November.

WHO says Vietnam successfully contains SARS

The World Health Organization (WHO)said on Monday that Vietnam has successfully contained the severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS).

"Vietnam has stopped the outbreak within its borders," said Dr.Pascale Brudon, WHO Representative to Vietnam, at a news conference. "WHO would like to congratulate Vietnam on being the first country in the world to contain SARS."

WHO said its conclusion came after careful monitoring of the country's current situation, which found no new reported cases of SARS since April 8, and no cases of it spreading to other countries.

The organization's announcement is extraordinarily significant for Vietnam since it was one of four countries initially identified by the WHO on March 15 as having a local transmission of SARS, and a total of 63 SARS cases and five deaths prior to April 8 had been reported in the country.

The WHO experts recommended that the absence of any new cases for a continuous 20-day (as of April 28) period was an encouragingindication which showed that appropriate detective and protective measures were able to contain the outbreak of SARS and prevent it from further spreading.

"Vietnam has effectively worked in partnership with other governments, WHO and WHO's partners to stop its outbreak of SARS,"said David Heymann, Executive Director of WHO's Communicable Diseases Cluster.

"We are pleased that other countries in the region with local transmission of SARS are also following appropriate detection and protection measures, and cooperating with each other to do so," headded.

The organization's experts also warned that Vietnam should still maintain a high level of alert since even a single new case of SARS could spark another outbreak.

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