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WHO Lifts Taiwan-SARS Travel Advisory

Posted on: Tuesday, 17 June 2003, 06:00 CDT

The World Health Organization on Tuesday canceled its warning against travel to Taiwan, more than a month after it put the Taiwanese capital on its list of places with a risk of spreading SARS infection.

WHO also said that SARS was diminishing as a global threat and praised China for showing greater transparency and a "strong political commitment" in combatting the disease.

But delegates at an international SARS conference in Kuala Lumpur warned countries to remain vigilant of new infectious diseases.

WHO said its decision to remove the travel warning in Taiwan "follows vast improvements in case detection, infection control, and the tracing and follow-up of contacts that led to a steep drop in the daily number of new cases."

The organization based its decision to end the travel advisory on several criteria, including the number of new cases, patterns of local transmission and evidence that cases are no longer being exported elsewhere.

"The SARS crisis in Taiwan has been taken very seriously at all levels, from the government and health care staff to the general public," said Dr. Cathy Roth, a WHO virologist who was in Taiwan in May to assess the need for a strengthened response.

Taiwan's removal leaves Beijing as the only area on the travel warning list.

"The global epidemic is now coming under control, but we must continue the fight against the disease nationally and internationally until the end," said Shigeru Omi, WHO director for the Western Pacific region.

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 sharing their responses to SARS during the conference, which will also review scientific findings, control strategies and the possible role of animals in the outbreak.

SARS has killed about 800 people and sickened more than 8,400 since first being detected in southern China in November. New cases spiked in March and April, but have plunged in recent weeks.

China came under heavy international criticism early in the crisis for trying to cover up cases, but a Health Ministry shakeup and the launch of a national anti-SARS campaign has helped curb the spread in the mainland.

"At the very beginning of this emergency, our response was inadequate," said Gao Qing, China's executive vice minister for health.

Gao blamed a host of reasons, from slow medical response to a poor alert system, and said that China eventually took stock of the problem and acted "quickly and responsibly."

China had suffered 5,327 probable cases, including 346 deaths, as of Monday, Gao said. Currently, the country has 50 suspected cases.

"SARS is a common disaster for mankind, and China is its largest victim," Gao said.

Efforts to curb the spread in mainland China were "getting better and better," Omi said, but disease-fighting coordination could be improved.

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