Post by twodogs on May 19, 2006 13:53:16 GMT 7
Dr Shigeru Omi, Regional Director, WHO
HONG KONG : A new book by the World Health Organisation has praised Singapore and Vietnam for their handling of the SARS outbreak.
The WHO has also said that China's denial of local cases in the early months, might have been because of a lack of technical capacity rather than an intentional cover up.
The book also reveals that Hong Kong authorities had tried to stop the world body from issuing a travel advisory against the city.
The 300-page book is a record of one of the most dramatic pandemics to hit Asia.
The outbreak of Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome, or SARS, eventually killed some 800 people around the world.
The author, WHO regional director Shigeru Omi, recalls that news of the SARS outbreak first reached him on February 10th 2003.
The WHO began pressing Beijing for more information on the cases reported in the southern Chinese province of Guangdong.
And on March 22nd, Dr Omi had what he described as a particularly tense meeting in Hong Kong with China's Health Minister.
Dr Omi said: "The information on Guangdong was not available and our request to the Chinese government for a joint mission to investigate in Guangdong was not yet accommodated so therefore I emphasised the need for information sharing and also I emphasised for the joint mission for investigations."
The WHO says Beijing hospitals initially withheld data and even denied having a problem, but by April 20th the central leadership changed tact and took tough measures against the spread of the disease throughout China.
In Hong Kong alone, SARS claimed 299 lives, out of a total of 1,755 people who fell sick.
At the height of the outbreak, Hong Kong authorities learnt that a travel advisory was to be issued against Hong Kong.
They tried to persuade the WHO otherwise, but the WHO went ahead anyway because the data provided was not sufficiently persuasive.
Dr Omi said: "All the governments certainly learnt a lot from the SARS experience and without any exceptions, all the countries have improved the level of transparency, the level of information sharing, and political commitment to fight any new diseases including avian flu."
The book praises Singapore for the way it handled the SARS outbreak - quickly identifying those at risk and enforcing quarantine