The Department of Health reported yesterday that the World Health Organization (WHO) has designated Taiwan as an area with limited local transmission of severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS).
The department announced that the WHO's communicable disease surveillance and response report issued Saturday on the Internet shows that the WHO believes Taiwan is not a high-risk area unlike the world health body's assessment of other SARS-affected areas such as China, Hong Kong, Singapore, Hanoi and Canada.
On April 12, the WHO had characterized Taiwan as an "area with limited local transmission, no evidence of international spread from the area since March 15, 2003, and no transmission other than close person-to-person contact reported."
Taiwan, London and the US, though listed as areas with limited local transmission and no international spread of the disease, will remain on the "affected area" list which includes Toronto in Canada, Singapore, Hanoi in Vietnam, Beijing, Guangdong, Hong Kong and Shanxi in China.
According to the WHO's definition, an "affected area" is one in which local chains of transmission of SARS are occurring as reported by national public health authorities.
Deputy Director of the health department Lee Lung-teng (
Malaysia has stipulated that all visitors from SARS-affected areas, including Taiwan, submit a health report to the Malaysian authorities to prove that the individual is not infected with SARS.
Thailand, which had earlier insisted that all Taiwanese visitors wear masks during their stays there, lifted the order last week.
Lee said that, with the change in the WHO designation, Malaysia and some other countries, which were preparing to bar Taiwan's citizens from entering their countries, are expected to call off that decision.
As of yesterday, a total of 153 SARS-related cases were reported in Taiwan, with 23 probable cases and 33 suspected cases.
Meanwhile, DOH director general Twu Shiing-jer (涂醒哲) said in a letter to the WHO that Taiwan's medical community has taken comprehensive steps to contain the spread of SARS. In his letter to Dr. Gro Harlem Brundtland, Twu said that Taiwan has effectively controlled the spread of the disease.
Since the appearance of SARS in early March, Twu said, only three out of the 50 reported SARS cases classified as probable or suspected cases in Taiwan as of April 10 were found to be of local origin -- the rest were imported -- adding that to date there have been no fatalities in Taiwan as a result of SARS.
Twu criticized the intentional silence by the Chinese government on the SARS epidemic, which he said has resulted in an immense social and economic toll worldwide, with Taiwan bearing the major brunt as the country is near Guangdong Province and Hong Kong, suspected to be sources of SARS.
He said it was wrong for the WHO to list Taiwan as a part of China, adding that Taiwan is an independent sovereign state and by no means a province of China.
Meanwhile, President Chen Shui-bian (陳水扁) called for international support yesterday for Taiwan's bid to join the WHO, claiming that it will be a valuable WHO member.
Addressing a local chapter meeting of the Rotary International, Chen said that to shut Taiwan out from the WHO is an international injustice for the 23 million people of the island and creates a loophole in preventing the spread of epidemics in the world.
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