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Jimmy Cheung

Hong Kong records only four new cases, with three deaths

Just four new Sars cases were recorded in Hong Kong yesterday,  raising hopes of an early lifting of the travel advisory issued by the World Health Organisation.

It marked the first day that there were fewer than than five new cases - the threshold set by the WHO before it will consider lifting its advisory against travel to Hong Kong.

Director of Health Margaret Chan Fung Fu-chun said  government officials, including Secretary for Health, Welfare and Food Yeoh Eng-kiong,   would talk to WHO officials in a video-conference about lifting the  advisory.

The WHO also wants to see the Sars caseload in hospitals reduced to 60. However, 404 patients are still undergoing treatment.

Dr Chan believed that the condition could be relaxed.

'This figure of 60 is  dependent on what treatment doctors give,' she said. 'In Hong Kong we're very prudent and keep patients in hospital for five more days after they have recovered, therefore our treatment lasts longer.  I believe the number of 60 is negotiable.'

Hong Kong has now had eight consecutive days of single-digit increases in new infections. The four cases take the number of people infected with severe acute respiratory syndrome to 1,678. The death toll rose to 215, after the disease claimed three more lives, including two elderly people suffering from pre-existing illnesses.

The number of infected housing blocks  rose by one, the lowest daily increase since reports began.  A total of 28 buildings are still on the list.

The WHO stipulated two other prerequisites for lifting its advisory: that  Hong Kong must have stopped spreading the virus to other nations -  a situation that has not arisen for the past three weeks - and  that the mode of transmission must be understood in each case.

Dr Chan warned against complacency in the fight against Sars.

'The number [of new infections] is continually falling,' she said. 'But we must continue to work hard.  I'm worried that when the numbers become good, people  ... start to relax. That could very easily lead to more trouble.'

Meanwhile, the WHO indicated yesterday that it would consider lifting its travel advisory for Guangdong if provincial officials could prove that its borders were secure  and that the number of new cases  was declining.

'As a rule of thumb, if the cases are down to five and there is satisfactory evidence that there is good border control and good treatment measures, [the WHO] will consider reviewing the situation,' Meirion Evans,  a WHO expert from the University of Wales, said.

Guangdong reported two new cases on Saturday. The highest number of new cases reported in the past week was 17. Dr Evans said it was  important to establish whether there was continuing transmission of Sars and whether the new cases were Sars or another form of pneumonia.

The provincial government has installed thermal checking facilities at Baiyun international airport and at railway and bus stations.

The provincial health department will have to present its case to have the travel advisory lifted to the Health Ministry in Beijing, which will then have to negotiate with the WHO. Even though the worst appears to be over in Guangdong, the WHO continues to be concerned that another round of infections could be set off in the future.

'My own feeling is that [Sars] is going to be in China for a considerable time,' said Dr Evans, one of three WHO experts who are in Guangdong for a week to trace the origin of the illness.

He said that there were two aspects of treatment in Guangdong that would interest the international medical community.

One was the use of hydro-steroids by Chinese doctors and the other was assisted ventilation using oxygen masks instead of ventilators.



Hopes rise for early lifting of WHO advisory