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WHO lifts SARS advisory for Hong
Kong, southern China
Jerry HONG KONG (AFP) The
World Health Organisation lifted its SARS travel
warning for Hong Kong and Guangdong as researchers
said the killer disease may have crossed to humans
from wild cats in southern China.
The WHO said it was rescinding an April 2 advisory
urging travellers to avoid Hong Kong and Guangdong in
southern China, where Severe Acute Respiratory
Syndrome first emerged last November.
"We are changing the travel advice for Hong Kong and
Guangdong effective Friday, 23 May," Gro Harlem
Brundtland, the WHO's outgoing director-general said
Friday in a statement released in Geneva.
"Guangdong was the first place in the world to have
cases of SARS but I am pleased to note that due to the
efforts of the local and national health authorities,
with support from WHO, the outbreaks in Guangdong and
in Hong Kong are being contained," she added.
WHO advisories warning against non-essential travel to
China's capital Beijing and the provinces of Hebei,
Inner Mongolia, Shanxi, Taiwan and Tianjin remain in
place however.
China and Hong Kong have been the worst-hit regions in
the SARS epidemic, accounting for 563 deaths and more
than 7,000 infections out of worldwide tolls of 690
fatalities and around 8,000 cases.
The SARS crisis has devastated Hong Kong's tourism
industry, with some hotels reporting zero occupancy
and the former British colony's airport reporting a 70
percent slump in passenger volume.
The lifting of the WHO advisory was welcomed by Hong
Kong's leader Tung Chee-hwa.
"It is a very good decision for Hong Kong," Tung said,
cautioning that the territory needed to remain
vigilant. "We must work very hard to ensure that the
virus does not spread."
Two more fatalities and two cases were reported in
Hong Kong on Friday, taking the city's death toll to
260 from 1,724 infections since March 12.
There is no known vaccine or diagnostic test for SARS,
which begins with flu-like symptoms before destroying
the body's respiratory system.
The cause of the disease is unknown but the WHO hailed
a "significant" breakthrough made by Hong Kong
researcers linking wild civet cats found -- and often
eaten -- in southern China to the coronavirus which
causes SARS.
"If these findings are true, then this is a
significant breakthough," Peter Cordingley, the
spokesman for the Manila-based WHO Western Pacific
regional office, told AFP.
"First of all, it confirms the theory that the virus
has crossed the species barrier. Secondly, it will
help scientists work on an effective diagnostic test,"
he added.
The civet cat ranked as the second most popular "exotic"
animal eaten by Hong Kong Chinese in a 1996 survey
conducted by animal rights group Traffic East Asia.
Chinese officials meanwhile welcomed the lifting of
the advisory on Guangdong, saying it sent a message
the worst was over.
"Removal of the WHO travel advisory not only sends a
signal globally that it is safe to travel to Guangdong,
but just as importantly it signals the rest of China
that life here is returning to normal," one provincial
official said.
Around China the numbers of new infections have
dropped off drastically, with no more than 28 cases
being reported on any day in the last seven day period.
Beijing has now gone a week with fewer than 20 daily
new confirmed cases. It reported 15 Friday among 20
nationwide. There were also three more deaths around
the country to push the national tally to 303.
The hard hit areas of north China -- Shanxi, Inner
Mongolia, Hebei and Tianjin which account for 1,136 of
the country's 5,285 cases -- are all reporting single
digit infections, if any at all.
Despite the better omens, the WHO is not jumping to
conclusions and again Friday cautioned that SARS had
not finished its rampage yet.
"We're still urging caution," said WHO spokesman in
China Bob Dietz.
"Just look at Taiwan. They were on top of this and
bang, look at the place now," he added.
Taiwan is battling the world's fastest growing
outbreak, with more than 300 infections in the past
week.
A further 55 cases were confirmed Friday, but the
island's government insisted measures to curb the
disease's spread were working.
The latest figures took the island's total to 538
infections and 60 deaths, but there are a further
1,000 suspected cases.
While the SARS outlook may have brightened for Hong
Kong and China Friday, the region is still counting
the cost of the crisis, with forecast losses running
into billions of dollars.
The China Centre for Economic Research described the
effect of SARS on Beijing as the most dramatic
prolonged shutdown of the travel industry since 1989.
The downturn forced the closure of 143 of 167 key
tourist spots, one newspaper reported the bureau as
saying.
The research centre said this will translate into a 60
to 70 percent fall in tourism revenue from overseas
visitors this year and a 30 percent decline in money
from domestic visitors, or a 4.8 billion dollar loss.
The disease is also expected to shave one billion
dollars off the information technology (IT) market in
Asia-Pacific outside Japan in 2003, according to
industry monitor, the International Data Corp.
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