WHO removes parts of China from SARS travel alert list

The United Nations World Health Organization (WHO) today removed travel restriction to Hebei, Inner Mongolia, Shanxi and Tianjin in China, leaving just two areas, Beijing and Taiwan Province, on the Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome (SARS) alert list.

WHO said it carefully reviewed information about the decline of the outbreaks in the four regions and concluded that SARS is no longer a potential threat to international travellers to these regions.

Recommendations to consider postponing all but essential travel to these regions of China had been issued on 23 April and 8 May in order to minimize the international spread of SARS. WHO said the travel postponement guide alert is issued following consideration of several factors, including the magnitude of SARS cases, the pattern of recent local transmission, and the last dates of export of cases.

In addition, WHO removed Guangdong, Hebei, Hubei, Inner Mongolia, Jilin, Jiangsu, Shaanxi, Shanxi and Tianjin from the list of areas with recent local transmission. This follows confirmation that there have been no new cases isolated in any of these areas for more than twice the maximum incubation period, in other words more than 20 days, the agency said.

Areas with recent local transmission should still screen all international departing passengers to ensure that those who are sick with SARS or are contacts of SARS cases do not travel, WHO said. This recommendation is valid for Beijing, Hong Kong and Taiwan Province in China, and Toronto, Canada.

The latest statistics on SARS indicate a total 8,454 probable cases and 792 deaths reported worldwide.