Geneva, July 05; The World Health Organisation today said that the pneumonia-like illness SARS had been contained worldwide after it declared Taiwan, the last country on its watch list, free of new infections. But it warned the world was not SARS-free and continued vigilance was needed.

"Today the World Health Organisation is removing Taiwan from the list of areas with recent local transmission of Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome (SARS)," the United Nations agency said in a statement.

"Taiwan is the last area to be removed from the list. It has been 20 days, or two consecutive 10-day incubation periods, since the last case on June 15.

"Based on country surveillance reports, the human chains of SARS virus transmission appear to have been broken everywhere in the world."
The statement quoted WHO director General Gro Harlem Brundtland as saying: "we do not mark the end of SARS today but we observe a milestone -- the global SARS outbreak has been contained."

But the WHO warned SARS had not been totally eradicated.
"Due to the many questions remaining about SARS and the possibility that cases may have slipped through the surveillance net, who warns that continued global vigilance for SARS is crucial for the foreseeable future. The world is not yet SARS-free."

The WHO said research into the potentially fatal respiratory disease had to continue, including investigations into a possible animal reservoir of the virus.

Bureau Report