Worst of outbreak over in some states

UN HEALTH chiefs yesterday said the worst of the SARS outbreak appeared to be over in Singapore, Hong Kong and Canada, while Vietnam has become the first country to contain the highly infectious disease.

But SARS is spreading in China, even as the government takes increasingly aggressive steps to halt the deadly virus, said David Heymann, the chief of communicable diseases for the UN's World Health Organisation.

Heymann, who is in Bangkok for today's emergency SARS summit of South-east Asian leaders, said the situation in China is worrying.