A suspected case of SARS in southern Guangdong Province was upgraded yesterday to a confirmed case, a senior provincial health official said.
"The case has been confirmed," Feng Shaoming, spokesman for the Guangdong Center for Disease Control, said. "Our experts at the Center for Disease Control have made many tests and they are all positive."
SARS triggered a worldwide health crisis after emerging in Guangdong in November last year, causing 774 deaths and more than 8,000 infections, the vast majority in Asia.
Feng said three experts from the World Health Organization (WHO) were in Guangdong's provincial capital of Guangzhou yesterday and were going over the test results.
He acknowledged that the case could not be officially upgraded to a confirmed case until the Ministry of Health made a formal announcement.
"So far the Ministry of Health has not announced it, nor has the World Health Organization. I don't know when they will, it is up to them, but our experts here have confirmed it."
In its daily SARS report yesterday, the ministry said no new suspected, clinically confirmed or confirmed cases of SARS had been reported nationwide from 10am Monday to 10am yesterday.
"According to reports from across the country at present there is only one suspected case of SARS and no clinically confirmed or confirmed cases," the ministry said.
Wang Maowu, director of disease control at the national-level Chinese Center for Disease Control, said an official statement was likely to be issued today.
Roy Wadia, the WHO's Beijing-based spokesman, said the WHO was trying to contact their ministry counterparts and reiterated that the WHO would be prudent in verifying the test results.
"We are trying to get confirmation with the Ministry of Health," Wadia said. "So far we have no official word ourselves."
China's health ministry announced Saturday the discovery of a suspected SARS case in a 32-year-old freelance journalist in Guangzhou, near where the virus was first detected in Foshan city on Nov. 16 last year.
Panyu city -- where the journalist, identified only as Luo, comes from -- is only 40km from Foshan.
None of the 42 people that came in close contact with Luo nor the 39 who had normal contact have developed fever or other abnormal reactions, the ministry said, adding that nine people have been removed from medical observation.
It said Luo was in stable condition and had had a normal temperature for seven consecutive days.
Luo developed a fever on Dec. 16 and was hospitalized with pneumonia in the right lung on Dec. 20.
Scientists suspect the SARS epidemic may have originated from wild animals sold for food in Guangdong's markets.
While both Taiwan and Singapore have reported SARS cases since the epidemic petered out in July, they were traced to laboratories where research had been conducted on the virus and not to the general population.
On Tuesday, the WHO team in Guangzhou met with the patient, Hong Kong radio reported.
After the meeting, WHO expert Augusto Pinto told reporters they would be carrying out detailed investigations on test results and estimated that it would take several days to review the data.
SARS symptoms are similar to other respiratory diseases with the onset of the disease only fully confirmed after a battery of tests are taken, including tests for SARS antibodies in the patient.
No vaccine is yet available.
China has issued health notices that include five levels of SARS diagnoses, among which are suspected cases, clinically confirmed cases and confirmed cases.
In the initial outbreak in late 2002 and early this year suspected SARS cases were routinely hospitalized and treated as full-blown cases due to the absence of a timely test for the disease, medical officials said.
SECURITY: As China is ‘reshaping’ Hong Kong’s population, Taiwan must raise the eligibility threshold for applications from Hong Kongers, Chiu Chui-cheng said When Hong Kong and Macau citizens apply for residency in Taiwan, it would be under a new category that includes a “national security observation period,” Mainland Affairs Council (MAC) Minister Chiu Chui-cheng (邱垂正) said yesterday. President William Lai (賴清德) on March 13 announced 17 strategies to counter China’s aggression toward Taiwan, including incorporating national security considerations into the review process for residency applications from Hong Kong and Macau citizens. The situation in Hong Kong is constantly changing, Chiu said to media yesterday on the sidelines of the Taipei Technology Run hosted by the Taipei Neihu Technology Park Development Association. With
CARROT AND STICK: While unrelenting in its military threats, China attracted nearly 40,000 Taiwanese to over 400 business events last year Nearly 40,000 Taiwanese last year joined industry events in China, such as conferences and trade fairs, supported by the Chinese government, a study showed yesterday, as Beijing ramps up a charm offensive toward Taipei alongside military pressure. China has long taken a carrot-and-stick approach to Taiwan, threatening it with the prospect of military action while reaching out to those it believes are amenable to Beijing’s point of view. Taiwanese security officials are wary of what they see as Beijing’s influence campaigns to sway public opinion after Taipei and Beijing gradually resumed travel links halted by the COVID-19 pandemic, but the scale of
A US Marine Corps regiment equipped with Naval Strike Missiles (NSM) is set to participate in the upcoming Balikatan 25 exercise in the Luzon Strait, marking the system’s first-ever deployment in the Philippines. US and Philippine officials have separately confirmed that the Navy Marine Expeditionary Ship Interdiction System (NMESIS) — the mobile launch platform for the Naval Strike Missile — would take part in the joint exercise. The missiles are being deployed to “a strategic first island chain chokepoint” in the waters between Taiwan proper and the Philippines, US-based Naval News reported. “The Luzon Strait and Bashi Channel represent a critical access
Pope Francis is be laid to rest on Saturday after lying in state for three days in St Peter’s Basilica, where the faithful are expected to flock to pay their respects to history’s first Latin American pontiff. The cardinals met yesterday in the Vatican’s synod hall to chart the next steps before a conclave begins to choose Francis’ successor, as condolences poured in from around the world. According to current norms, the conclave must begin between May 5 and 10. The cardinals set the funeral for Saturday at 10am in St Peter’s Square, to be celebrated by the dean of the College
RSS