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| WHO lifts travel warning to Toronto over SARS |
| CCTV.COM 2003-04-30 10:04:54 |
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The World Health Organization （WHO） lifted on Tuesday its travel warning to Toronto over severe acute respiratory syndrome （SARS）.
The organization made the decision after its Director General Dr. Gro Harlem Brundtland, met with a senior Canadian delegation, which stressed that no new SARS cases had been reported in the community at large for the past 20 days. That doubles the length of the incubation period.
Brundtland said that the lifting of the warning takes effect on Wednesday, adding that WHO still considered Toronto as an "affected area."
Analysts said that WHO made the decision under pressure from the Canadian government.
After the WHO warned people to reduce unnecessary travel to Toronto on April 23, there was an immediate drop in the number of tourists as conferences, concerts and other events were canceled.
It was learnt that a small WHO team was expected to arrive in Toronto on Wednesday to attend an international conference on SARS, and see how the city was trying to contain the disease.
According to WHO, a cumulative total of 5,462 probable SARS cases with 353 deaths have been reported from 27 countries or regions as of Tuesday. Canada has reported 146 probable SARS cases with 20 deaths.
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Editor: Yang Feiyang Source:Xinhua
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