The United Nations health agency has put Toronto, Canada, back on the list of areas with recent local transmission of Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome (SARS) following new reported clusters of 26 suspect and eight probable cases of the deadly disease linked to four area hospitals.

The United Nations health agency today lifted its warning against all but essential travel from two major SARS areas – Hong Kong, which has reported the second highest number of cases and deaths from Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome, and China’s Guangdong Province, where the new disease first emerged in November.

The United Nations health agency today extended its travel advisory against all but essential travel to the whole of Taiwan Province of China, which has registered the third highest number of cases and deaths from newly emergent Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome (SARS).

The outbreak of Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome (SARS) poses enormous public health challenges, but the international response offers hope for tackling them, experts said following a two-day United Nations meeting of epidemiologists in Geneva.