Canada relieved as WHO travel ban on Toronto is lifted

THE World Health Organisation said last night it was lifting its warning against unnecessary travel to Toronto less than a week after it was imposed amid fears over the spread of the SARS virus.

The about-turn, taking effect today, was announced by WHO director general Gro Harlem Brundtland after talks with Canadian officials, including the health minister of Ontario, the province where Toronto is located, who had travelled to Geneva to lobby the UN health agency.

But other advisories affecting Hong Kong, Beijing and two major regions of China where the flu-like virus is believed to have originated "remain the same", Ms Brundtland declared.

Canada is the only country outside China and southeast Asia where people have died from the respiratory disease, which has killed at least 331 people. A total of 21 of these deaths were in the Toronto area.

The original WHO decision a week ago brought a storm of protest from Canada, with officials talking of hundreds of millions of dollars in losses from tourism and other business.

Ms Brundtland denied that the world health body had succumbed to political pressure from the Canadians and said the decision to remove the alert followed improvements in the SARS situation there.

Although there were new cases of infection amongst hospital workers, there had been no recent reports of the disease spreading out into the general community, nor had there been further confirmed incidents of export to other countries, she said.

Canada said that 20 days roughly twice the incubation period have now elapsed since the last known case outside a medical centre, which is the general rule of thumb for deciding whether a disease outbreak is being contained.

"Until this week, it fulfilled the criteria for a travel advisory," Ms Brundtland told a news conference.

Ontario Health Minister Tony Clement said he was "delighted" with the latest WHO decision but promised that the city would not drop its guard in battling the virus.

"The government of Canada and the government of Ontario are going to continue to do the work that is necessary to ensure the safety and security of all of the world's citizens," he said.

Ms Brundtland said she had discussed with the Canadian officials measures to tighten health controls on air travellers leaving Canada to guard against future export of the disease.

WHO has in the past been critical of what it saw as poor passenger screening at Toronto airport.

And she warned that Toronto was still considered SARS-affected and that the advisory could be reviewed again if there was "negative change" about the disease's containment.

WHO is particularly concerned about the danger of the virus reaching countries where the health facilities would not be capable of handling the heavy demands of the disease.

The SARS death rate is currently running at around 6%, but some 20% of patients become seriously ill, many needing to be put on machines to help them breathe.

SARS, which is believed to have originated in China last November, is spread mainly by coughing and sneezing and has no known cure. It was taken to Canada and to more than two dozen other countries by unsuspecting air travellers.