WHO cancels Taiwan SARS travel warning

THE World Health Organisation yesterday cancelled its warning against travel to Taiwan, more than a month after it put the Taiwanese capital on its list of places with a risk of spreading SARS

The WHO also said SARS was diminishing as a global threat and praised China for showing greater transparency and a “strong political commitment” in combatting the disease.

But delegates at an international SARS conference in Kuala Lumpur warned countries to remain vigilant of new infectious diseases.

WHO based its decision to end the travel advisory on several criteria, including the number of new cases, patterns of local transmission and evidence that cases are no longer being exported elsewhere.

Taiwan’s removal leaves Beijing as the only area on the travel warning list.

“The global epidemic is now coming under control, but we must continue the fight against the disease nationally and internationally until the end,” said Shigeru Omi, WHO director for the Western Pacific region.

SARS has killed about 800 people and sickened more than 8,400 since first being detected in southern China in November.

New cases spiked in March and April, but have plunged in recent weeks.