Taiwan's efforts to be taken off a global list of SARS-infected areas might have suffered a setback Thursday when Japan reported a Taiwanese tourist developed symptoms during his trip.
The Japanese Ministry of Health said the 33-year-old man went to Tokyo last Saturday and developed SARS symptoms two days later, the World Health Organization's Web site reported. 'He was immediately hospitalized and managed according to WHO recommendations,' WHO said, adding officials are still investigating the case.
Last week, WHO dropped a travel warning for Taiwan after the island proved it was not exporting the virus. Taiwan also showed the number of new cases and patients in Hospital had dropped significantly.
For the 10th straight day Thursday, the island reported no new cases.
Taiwanese officials said Thursday they doubt the man had SARS. They also said Taiwan has met WHO conditions to be removed from the global list of SARS-infected areas. They expect WHO to announce a decision as soon as Thursday.
But Chiang Ying-lung, the deputy chief of Taiwan's Centre for Disease Control, said if the new case in Japan were accurately diagnosed, it might affect Taiwan's chances of being removed from the WHO list.
'It could influence things but it's very likely that this is not a real case,' he said.
Chiang added a Japanese hospital official told him the possibility of the Taiwanese tourist having SARS, which is difficult to diagnose, is not high.
The man's wife returned to Taiwan on Wednesday and 'all precautionary measures have been taken' with her, Chiang said.
Taiwan's SARS death toll stands at 84, its CDC Web site said.
The total number of cases dropped by four to 682 because four patients earlier diagnosed with SARS did not have the virus, the Web site said.
To be taken off the WHO list of SARS infected areas, Taiwan must go 20 straight days since a SARS patient was isolated in a hospital. Taiwanese officials said they have accomplished this.
Meanwhile, with confetti and clanging gongs, Beijing celebrated the lifting of its WHO travel warning, even as another death from the disease was reported in the Chinese capital.
The flu-like illness was first detected in China seven months ago and banner headlines in newspapers cheered the WHO's announcement.
'Our wish is finally fulfilled - we smile again,' the Beijing Youth Daily newspaper said above a photograph of city residents in front of a banner reading: We Win!
But in a sign of the outbreak's lingering aftermath, the Health Ministry announced one new SARS death in Beijing and said another case of the disease had been confirmed in the southern province Guangdong.
It was the mainland's first confirmed SARS case since June 11 and came a day after Beijing was removed from a separate WHO list of places with recent local SARS transmissions.
Travel officials rallied at the Beijing Exhibition Hall to relaunch the city's tourism industry. Musicians banged drums and gongs as confetti and streamers were shot from a cannon into the air. Beijing also announced the reopening of discos and Internet cafes closed at the height of the outbreak two months ago.
Meanwhile, the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention removed Beijing and Taiwan from its travel advisory list Wednesday, downgrading them to travel alert sites. The new designations urge visitors to take precautions but don't advise against travel.
Worldwide more than 800 people have died and another 8,400 people have been infected with severe acute respiratory syndrome. China has recorded more than 5,000 of those cases - at least 348 have died, more than half of them in Beijing.
In Canada, worst hit by SARS outside of Asia, the disease is playing havoc with the economy.
Officials said Canada's economy will only grow 2.2 per cent this year, down from earlier forecasts of 3.2 per cent, due to the SARS outbreak, mad cow disease and other factors.
SARS has killed 38 people in the Toronto area and has devastated the crucial tourism industry.
