You Gotta Believe It's Getting Better

Yes, and every day it seems. Now the WHO announces the lifting of the Toronto travel restrictions, and the situation in China, though possibly still not past the peak, looks better. Guandong seems over the worst (lets hope). On another tack, I do feel I'm smelling of roses a bit. Last week, when all expersts and sudry were busy penciling down their growth expectations I stuck my neck out and suggested that, in the case of China itself, such downward revisions might not be necessary. I am already feeling vindicated. OK 'experts', start to get your rubbers and pencils out again.

Situation in China

A total of 202 new probable SARS cases were reported across China today, bringing the total number of cases in the country to 3303. Nine deaths were also reported today.Probable SARS cases have now been reported from 21 of China’s 31 provinces. An additional four provinces have reported suspected cases. Beijing continues to report a high number of SARS cases, with 152 new probable cases and 9 deaths reported today. China’s capital city now has a cumulative total of 1347 probable cases and 59 deaths.China’s largest number of cumulative cases remains concentrated in Guangdong Province, where the SARS outbreak began in mid-November. Only 10% of these cases are current. As 1201 patients have been discharged and 51 have died, there are less than 150 SARS cases remaining in Guangdong’s health care system. In contrast, the rapidly growing number of new cases in Beijing imposes a heavy burden on the health care system and particularly its hospital capacity. In Beijing, 86% of cases (1198 cases) are current. The situation in western China continues to be of concern. New probable cases in Shanxi (23) and Inner Mongolia (7) increase the cumulative totals to 266 and 120 respectively. WHO is working with local health authorities in Beijing to review and improve the data needed to better monitor the SARS situation and assess the success of current control strategies. The WHO team of experts also visited hospitals which will soon be opened as SARS referral hospitals to assess their level of preparedness.

Update on cases and countries

As of today, a cumulative total of 5462 probable cases with 353 deaths have been reported from 27 countries. This represents an increase of 226 new cases and 24 deaths when compared with yesterday. Of the 226 new cases, 202 were reported today from China, of which 152 occurred in Beijing. Due to difficulties of information technology, figures received from Chinese authorities yesterday were not included in yesterday’s cumulative update.The 24 deaths occurred in Canada (2), China (9), Hong Kong SAR (12), and Singapore (1).
Source: WHO SARS Update
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