Taiwan may be taken off SARS list: officials

2003/4/15
TAIPEI, Taiwan, The China Post staff
The China Post staff
Health officials expressed optimism yesterday that Taiwan could be removed from the World Health Organization (WHO) list of regions affected by a mysterious killer pneumonia by early June.
Deputy Minister of Health Lee Teng-lung pointed out that no new cases of severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS) have cropped up in Taiwan in the past five days.
If another five days goes by without any new cases, Lee said it is possible that Taiwan will be able to get out from under the specter of the disease earlier than expected.
Lee said that last week he had predicted the epidemic would be a threat to Taiwan until at least the end of June.
But with no new cases being reported, he expressed guarded optimism that Taiwan would be in the clear by the beginning of June.
Earlier in the day, Taipei City Department of Health director Chiou Shu-ti suggested that Taiwan could be removed from the WHO list of areas affected by SARS by as early as April 20.
Chiou was apparently referring to one estimate that puts the time required for virus that causes SARS to kick in at ten days.
On that view, Taiwan would be shown to be SARS-free if no new cases were reported within the ten day period beginning from April 10.
Lee said that he would be happy to see such a development on WHO's part, although he warned that scientists and doctors are not in agreement as to how long it takes for the virus to develop in an infected person.
He also pointed out that WHO is requiring that no new cases of the disease be reported for 20 straight days before removing an area from their list of affected regions.
For instance, no new cases were reported in Hanoi for a period stretching out over more than a fortnight before the next SARS patient turned up.
At present, no areas that have been listed as being affected by SARS have been removed from that list, Lee said.
Center for Disease Control director Chen Tsai-chin also warned against being overly optimistic.
Given the large number of Taiwan businessmen criss-crossing the Taiwan Strait all the time, though, it is possible that more people will bring the SARS virus back with them, Chen warned.
A full 20 of Taiwan's 23 probable SARS cases were shown to have been contracted in either Hong Kong or mainland China, he said.
The remaining three cases were caused by close contact with people who had picked up the disease outside of Taiwan, he added.
Chen said that local health authorities will probably wait until all of Taiwan's probable SARS cases have gotten better and then write a letter to WHO asking that the country be removed from the list of affected areas.