SARS has not yet peaked in China says WHO chief

The head of the World Health Organisation told European health ministers today to remain vigilant, predicting the deadly SARS virus had “not seen a peak” in China yet.

Gro Harlem Brundtland, director-general of the WHO, said her latest reports showed a continuing rise and spread of the outbreak despite increased efforts to stop the flu-like virus.

“There is still considerable number of cases everyday,” she said after talks with EU Health Commissioner David Byrne in Brussels.

“Certainly, we have not seen a peak in China yet … there is obviously an increase in the outbreak going on.”

Chinese officials reported eight new deaths and 138 new cases today, bringing the total number of deaths to 214.

In Beijing, China’s hardest-hit area, the number of people quarantined stands at almost 16,000.

World-wide over 6,300 cases have been reported, with China being the worst hit.

Dr Brundtland was holding several bilateral meetings with top EU officials ahead of joining health ministers from 25 European nations for an emergency meeting on the outbreak of severe acute respiratory syndrome, which has killed over 400 people in Asia and Canada.

The ministers were seeking to improve co-ordination on health policies to prevent the deadly SARS virus from taking hold in Europe.

Byrne, backed by Brundtland, called on the ministers to give the EU’s head office more powers in tackling the spread of communicable diseases like SARS.

“This has been a wakeup call for the world and Europe as well,” Byrne said, acknowledging a lack of co-ordination between EU governments on how they would respond if a major outbreak of SARS hit the continent.

Currently, there are no common EU rules on issuing disease control warnings or on conducting joint research into such outbreaks.

“Given the present state … we can do more,” he said. ”I have more powers over animal diseases than human diseases. This is not a satisfactory situation.”

Dr Brundtland called on the ministers to back Byrne’s proposals to set up an EU centre for disease prevention and control – loosely mirrored on the US Centres for Disease Control and Prevention. An EU centre to address that issue is unlikely to open for another two years.

“I would be surprised if EU nations were not prepared,” Brundtland said.

Europe has so far been largely spared by the highly contagious flu-like virus. A total of 33 probable or possible cases have been reported in France, Britain, Germany, Italy, Ireland, Sweden, Poland and Spain.

None have died.