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Last China SARS cases declared free of virus
Beijing, July 29: Beijing`s last 12 SARS patients have recovered from the disease, official media said Tuesday, marking an apparent end to the scourge in China where the virus emerged eight months ago before spreading across the world.
Beijing, July 29: Beijing's last 12 SARS patients have recovered from the disease, official media said Tuesday, marking an apparent end to the scourge in China where the virus emerged eight months ago before spreading across the world.
The World Health Organization said the reported recoveries were expected but it was still on alert given the possibility the disease could rebound in China or elsewhere.
The 12 patients were still in hospital receiving treatment for other illnesses but no longer showed symptoms of Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome and were not infectious, the Communist Party newspaper People's Daily quoted Beijing's deputy health chief Liang Wannian as saying.
"Beijing has no more SARS patients," he said.
As of Monday, the Ministry of Health said on its Web site China had 12 remaining SARS patients in hospital, all in Beijing.
At the height of the epidemic, the capital had the world's highest number of SARS cases.
Liang's declaration that Beijing was SARS-free was reported a day after a national anti-SARS conference, at which President Hu Jintao attributed China's successful SARS battle to Communist Party leadership.
Asked about the timing of the announcement clearing Beijing of SARS cases, a WHO spokesman said the U.N. body had no reason to suspect China, which drew widespread condemnation for initially concealing the extent of the outbreak, was not telling the truth.
"No alarm bells went off here," said WHO Beijing spokesman Bob Dietz. "This would be the way this thing would tail off in the end."
Bureau Report
The World Health Organization said the reported recoveries were expected but it was still on alert given the possibility the disease could rebound in China or elsewhere.
The 12 patients were still in hospital receiving treatment for other illnesses but no longer showed symptoms of Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome and were not infectious, the Communist Party newspaper People's Daily quoted Beijing's deputy health chief Liang Wannian as saying.
"Beijing has no more SARS patients," he said.
As of Monday, the Ministry of Health said on its Web site China had 12 remaining SARS patients in hospital, all in Beijing.
At the height of the epidemic, the capital had the world's highest number of SARS cases.
Liang's declaration that Beijing was SARS-free was reported a day after a national anti-SARS conference, at which President Hu Jintao attributed China's successful SARS battle to Communist Party leadership.
Asked about the timing of the announcement clearing Beijing of SARS cases, a WHO spokesman said the U.N. body had no reason to suspect China, which drew widespread condemnation for initially concealing the extent of the outbreak, was not telling the truth.
"No alarm bells went off here," said WHO Beijing spokesman Bob Dietz. "This would be the way this thing would tail off in the end."
Bureau Report