WHO cancels travel warning for Taiwan

The UN health agency today cancelled its travel warning for Taiwan, more than a month after it was listed as a SARS risk.

The World Health Organisation said its decision “follows vast improvements in case detection, infection control, and the tracing and follow-up of contacts that led to a steep drop in the daily number of new cases.”

The move leaves the Chinese capital Beijing as the only place left on the travel warning list.

WHO said it was still recommending continued vigilance in all areas in Taiwan which have seen transmission of Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome, but a WHO expert said the Taiwanese response had so far been exemplary.

“The SARS crisis in Taiwan has been taken very seriously at all levels, from the government and health care staff to the general public,” said Dr Cathy Roth, a WHO virologist who visited Taiwan in May.