Toronto removed from SARS list

THE World Health Organisation removed Toronto from its list of SARS-infected areas yesterday, saying Canada’s largest city had contained the virus.

The decision means Taiwan is the last on what was once a long list of countries reporting local transmissions in the last 20 days.

It will likely shed that distinction on Saturday if there are no new cases between now and then.

"This is a great achievement for public health in what we hope is the final phase of the global emergency," said David Heymann, WHO's head of communicable diseases.

"Toronto faced an especially challenging outbreak."

Toronto had the largest SARS outbreak outside of Asia, with 39 deaths and almost 250 cases.

More than 27,000 people in and around the city were forced into quarantine during the two outbreaks one in March and April and the second in May and June.

Although there have been no recent new cases, a number of people remain critically ill and the death toll could rise.

The latest death on Sunday was of a nurse the first Canadian health care worker to die from SARS, or severe acute respiratory syndrome.

Canada was one of the first places affected by SARS, which is believed to have started in southern China and spread through air travel.

The WHO in April warned travellers against all but essential travel to and from Toronto.

It lifted the warning a week later, but the initial cancellations and a second outbreak of the virus in May have devastated the city's tourism industry and had a large impact on the economy.

The WHO's announcement is a timely boost for officials from the Canadian city of Vancouver who are bidding for the right to host the 2010 Winter Olympic Games.

The decision from the International Olympic Committee was expected late last night.

Meanwhile, the last three patients with SARS in China's southern Guangdong province left hospital, marking a red letter day in the area where the global outbreak began.