WHO: SARS virus could be coming to end

The World Health Organisation said today that the global SARS epidemic may be coming to an end, although Taiwan’s outbreak is not yet under control.

More than 8,300 cases have been reported and 791 people have died since Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome first appeared in southern China in November.

Most of the infections have been in mainland China and Hong Kong, but Hong Kong reported no new deaths or infections today for the first day since March.

Hitoshi Oshitani, a regional adviser for the UN health agency, said only seven new SARS cases were reported worldwide yesterday, suggesting the end of epidemic could be near.

“In terms of the number of cases (worldwide), we are seeing the end of the outbreak,” he said in the Filipino capital Manila.

He said the situation in China was “under control,” but that it was not in Taiwan, where new cases were still being reported.

Taiwan’s outbreak began later than China and Hong Kong’s, and while numbers of new cases have declined in recent weeks, the island reported two more SARS infections today to bring its total to 688, of whom 81 have died.