The outbreaks of the deadly SARS virus appear to have peaked in Hong Kong, Singapore and the Canadian capital Toronto, said the World Health Organization on Monday.
In another piece of good news, the WHO declared Vietnam as the first country to contain the virus, having had no new cases for 20 days. These four places were the worst-affected outside mainland China, where Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome (SARS) first surfaced.
鈥淭hey are having fewer cases every day, and in Vietnam鈥檚 case, no new cases,鈥� said David Heymann, executive director of the WHO鈥檚 Communicable Diseases Cluster.
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However, when Heymann was asked by reporters if he was confident that the global spread of SARS could be halted, he said: 鈥淣o we are not. We are hoping.鈥�
鈥淐hina is the key,鈥� he said. 鈥淚f China is unable to control this disease, then it will remain endemic in China 鈥� and from time to time it will go into other countries.鈥� The SARS outbreak in China appears to be still accelerating and spreading to new regions, but although assessment of the situation has been hampered by the government reluctance to provide full and immediate information.
Death rate
SARS has now claimed at least 318 lives and caused over 5000 infections in 26 countries. The virus kills about 10 per cent of those it infects and while there is no cure or vaccine it poses a very serious risk to global health.
But the example of Vietnam, which suffered five deaths and 63 cases, is a positive one. 鈥淭he SARS outbreak has been successfully contained in Vietnam,鈥� national health minister Tran Thi Trung Chien, told AFP, while warning 鈥渢he threat of SARS importation to Vietnam through international travel is still great鈥�.
Pascale Brudon, the WHO鈥檚 representative to Vietnam said the swift action taken by Hanoi鈥檚 French Hospital to contain the virus was a crucial factor. Another factor was the fact that the country only had one 鈥渋ndex case鈥� 鈥� an original case from which the virus spread. This was the Chinese-American businessman identified on 26 February, who later died in Hong Kong.
In Hong Kong, new infections are still being reported but a slower rate. The daily average was 20 to 30 earlier in April, but fell to 16 on Sunday, and 14 on Monday. 鈥淚t鈥檚 a very good sign,鈥� said Udo Buchholz, the WHO鈥檚 team leader in Hong Kong. The country suffered five new deaths on Monday, bringing its death toll to 138 with 1557 infections.
But Margaret Chan, Hong Kong鈥檚 director of health, warned against being overly optimistic: 鈥淛udging from the figures, we are seeing the situation improving 鈥� but it is too early to jump to conclusions.鈥�