http://www.msnbc.com/news/893950.asp?cp1=1
GENEVA, April 29 ― The World Health Organization announced Tuesday that it would lift starting Wednesday its warning against unnecessary travel to Toronto imposed last week amid fears over the spread of the SARS virus.
THE DECISION was announced at a news conference by WHO Director-General Gro Harlem Brundtland after talks with Canadian officials, including the health minister of Ontario, the province where Toronto is located.
“We will be lifting the travel advice for Toronto, Canada, effective on Wednesday,” she said.
“The outbreak (in Toronto) has lower magnitude than seven days ago ... so there is a different evaluation one week later,” declared Brundtland, herself a doctor and former prime minister of Norway.
Other travel advisories ― affecting Hong Kong, Beijing and two major regions of China where the flu-like virus is believed to have originated ― “remain the same,” Brundtland said.
STORM OF PROTEST
The original WHO decision brought a storm of protest from Canada, which saw the recommendation as a threat to its national economy and especially that of Toronto, its financial capital.
Canada is the only country outside China and southeast Asia where people have died from the respiratory disease, which has killed more than 350 people around the globe since it began in southern China last November.
A total of 21 of these deaths have been reported in the Toronto area.
The flu-like SARS, or severe acute respiratory syndrome, is spread mainly by coughing and sneezing and has no known cure. It was brought to Canada and to more than two dozen other countries by unsuspecting air travelers.
Toronto health officials said SARS had now been largely restricted to people working in hospitals where the original cases were taken, but last week the WHO said it was concerned that the disease was still spreading into the local community.
Ontario’s Health Minister Tony Clement, who traveled to Geneva to talk with Brundtland, told reporters earlier: “We believe we have done almost everything right.”
Canada said that 20 days ― roughly twice the illness’ incubation period ― had elapsed since the last known case outside a medical center.
That is the standard period used by the WHO and other health bodies for deciding whether any infectious disease has been contained. On Monday the WHO said Vietnam ― which had reported some cases ― now appeared free of the disease.
Asian leaders were holding an emergency SARS summit on Tuesday in Bangkok to discuss measures to stem the spread of the disease in the region.
CABINET SHOWS SUPPORT
In a show of support for Toronto, Canada’s cabinet held a rare meeting outside the capital Ottawa on Tuesday. Arriving at a downtown Toronto hotel, ministers insisted they would do their best to support the city, where the local economy is reeling from the impact of SARS.
“It’s important for government to show leadership,” Defense Minister John McCallum told reporters as he arrived for the meeting. “A number of us have been providing moral support by being here, by going to dim sum and things of that nature.”
KEY CONFERENCE THIS WEEK
Canada will host an international conference on SARS in Toronto on Wednesday and Thursday, where participants will include Dr. Julie Gerberding, the head of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in Atlanta, and doctors with front-line experience in treating the disease.
GENEVA, April 29 ― The World Health Organization announced Tuesday that it would lift starting Wednesday its warning against unnecessary travel to Toronto imposed last week amid fears over the spread of the SARS virus.
THE DECISION was announced at a news conference by WHO Director-General Gro Harlem Brundtland after talks with Canadian officials, including the health minister of Ontario, the province where Toronto is located.
“We will be lifting the travel advice for Toronto, Canada, effective on Wednesday,” she said.
“The outbreak (in Toronto) has lower magnitude than seven days ago ... so there is a different evaluation one week later,” declared Brundtland, herself a doctor and former prime minister of Norway.
Other travel advisories ― affecting Hong Kong, Beijing and two major regions of China where the flu-like virus is believed to have originated ― “remain the same,” Brundtland said.
STORM OF PROTEST
The original WHO decision brought a storm of protest from Canada, which saw the recommendation as a threat to its national economy and especially that of Toronto, its financial capital.
Canada is the only country outside China and southeast Asia where people have died from the respiratory disease, which has killed more than 350 people around the globe since it began in southern China last November.
A total of 21 of these deaths have been reported in the Toronto area.
The flu-like SARS, or severe acute respiratory syndrome, is spread mainly by coughing and sneezing and has no known cure. It was brought to Canada and to more than two dozen other countries by unsuspecting air travelers.
Toronto health officials said SARS had now been largely restricted to people working in hospitals where the original cases were taken, but last week the WHO said it was concerned that the disease was still spreading into the local community.
Ontario’s Health Minister Tony Clement, who traveled to Geneva to talk with Brundtland, told reporters earlier: “We believe we have done almost everything right.”
Canada said that 20 days ― roughly twice the illness’ incubation period ― had elapsed since the last known case outside a medical center.
That is the standard period used by the WHO and other health bodies for deciding whether any infectious disease has been contained. On Monday the WHO said Vietnam ― which had reported some cases ― now appeared free of the disease.
Asian leaders were holding an emergency SARS summit on Tuesday in Bangkok to discuss measures to stem the spread of the disease in the region.
CABINET SHOWS SUPPORT
In a show of support for Toronto, Canada’s cabinet held a rare meeting outside the capital Ottawa on Tuesday. Arriving at a downtown Toronto hotel, ministers insisted they would do their best to support the city, where the local economy is reeling from the impact of SARS.
“It’s important for government to show leadership,” Defense Minister John McCallum told reporters as he arrived for the meeting. “A number of us have been providing moral support by being here, by going to dim sum and things of that nature.”
KEY CONFERENCE THIS WEEK
Canada will host an international conference on SARS in Toronto on Wednesday and Thursday, where participants will include Dr. Julie Gerberding, the head of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in Atlanta, and doctors with front-line experience in treating the disease.