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Guangdong outbreak now 'under control'

Severe acute respiratory syndrome (Sars) is effectively under control in Guangdong, the health minister said yesterday.

But Zhang Wenkang admitted that the highly communicable disease had not been stamped out on the mainland.

In the first news conference about the virus by a top Chinese official since the outbreak, Mr Zhang tried to reassure the world that China was a safe place to live, travel and work.

Mr Zhang said that by the end of March, China had 1,190 reported cases in five provinces in addition to Beijing. He admitted that the disease had not been eradicated and much scientific investigation still needed to be done to determine the cause of the virus.

The health minister rejected widespread international criticism that China's delay in co-operating with the World Health Organisation (WHO) was a deliberate attempt to conceal crucial information on the outbreak of the disease, which has now spread to nearly 20 countries. Mr Zhang also suggested the virus might not have originated in Guangdong, or even in China, as most health officials outside the mainland believe.

Despite the fact that more than half of all reported cases of Sars have occurred in Guangdong, Mr Zhang cautioned against jumping to the conclusion that China had 'exported' the disease.

In some countries where Sars cases were reported, the patients had never been to Guangdong or southern China, he said. Mr Zhang said Guangdong was safe for travellers, cracking a joke that he had not been paid by the airline companies to make the advertisement.

Responding to the cancelled trips by foreign groups, he said he hoped they would reconsider as more information became available.

WHO officials dropped Beijing from the list of disease-affected areas after they were convinced the city was safe.

Beijing had 12 confirmed cases, none of which was contracted in the city.

The experience in controlling the spread of Sars and treating affected patients in Guangdong showed that a combination of Western and Chinese medicine was more effective than other known cures, Mr Zhang said.

The mainland has offered to share its clinical and epidemiological experiences with officials in Hong Kong, Taiwan and elsewhere.

Mr Zhang denounced what he said was an attempt by politicians in Taiwan to use the Sars scare to 'squeeze into' the WHO. He said the channel for exchanging medical information and contacts was open and smooth as thousands of health professionals made cross-strait visits.

He urged the two sides to step up co-operation in controlling the disease, warning that any attempt to join the WHO cloaked under 'human rights' would not prevail.

Mr Zhang said the outbreak in Hong Kong would require the co-operation of the entire populace in monitoring, reporting and taking measures to control the spread of the disease.

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