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| Confidence high as Sars cases continue to fall ( 01/05/2003 ) | |||||||||
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Since May 4, fewer than ten cases have been reported daily. The continued downward trend comes more than a week after the World Health Organisation announced that the Sars outbreak had stabilised in Hong Kong. Only five cases were reported on Thursday, May 15, with 32 patients being discharged from hospital, bringing to 1,160 the patients who have recovered. It is the twelfth day in a row that fewer than 10 cases have been reported.
The WHO’s chief of communicable diseases, Dr David Heymann told reporters last week that Hong Kong cases are “on their way down and will stay down”. In light of the positive developments in Hong Kong, the Government announced that it had discussed with the WHO the criteria for lifting the health advisory. The WHO set out three conditions: (i) fewer than five cases for three consecutive days; (ii) fewer than 60 patients receiving treatment in hospital; and (iii) to prevent any cases being spread to a third country. The WHO said that Hong Kong had already satisfied the third condition, with no cases being spread overseas from Hong Kong for nearly three weeks. A total of 1,703 cases have been reported since the severe acute respiratory syndrome outbreak began in early March. Seven people died from Sars on Thursday May 15. In a related development, ten members of a Malaysian ship were confirmed to be Sars-free and were allowed to return to their ship, after the captain sought medical assistance in Hong Kong for his crew. Related story: International business community stands firm with Hong Kong Please click here for more information on: | |||||||||
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