Hong Kong removed from Sars list

The World Health Organisation (WHO) has today removed Hong Kong from its list of Sars-affected areas.

The agency has reported that 20 days, which is twice the maximum incubation period, have passed since the last case was isolated on 2 June. According to WHO definition, when 20 days have passed since the last case, the chain of human-to-human transmission is considered broken – thus eliminating the risk of infection for residents and travellers.

The WHO first advised the public to consider postponing all but essential travel to Hong Kong on April 2. That recommendation was removed more than seven weeks later, on May 23.

“This is a very significant achievement,” said Dr David Heymann, Executive Director of Communicable Diseases at WHO.

“Hong Kong, with its dense population and fluid border with China, had one of the hardest outbreaks to control. This success means that the whole world can now feel safer from the Sars threat.”

Sars was first carried out of southern China into Hong Kong, and then on to Hanoi, Toronto, and Singapore in late February. Some 16 visitors and guests to the ninth floor of a Hong Kong hotel became infected through contact – "in ways that remain mysterious" says the WHO.

Sars had not yet been identified as a dangerous new disease when the outbreak hit Hong Kong’s hospitals. Doctors and nurses, unaware of the need to isolate patients and protect themselves, became the first victims as they struggled to save lives.

The WHO says that one of the victims in the initial cluster was treated four times daily with a jet nebulizer, which "probably aerosolized the virus and greatly increased opportunities for spread".

In late March, Hong Kong suffered a major setback when a large cluster, eventually numbering more than 300, of almost simultaneous new cases was traced to a single building in the Amoy Gardens housing state.

The outbreak was attributed to an “unlucky” convergence of environmental conditions that allowed the contamination of vertically-linked apartments. This conclusion, subsequently confirmed by additional studies, calmed fears that the Sars virus might be airborne.

The WHO praised the Hong Kong authorities today, saying: "From the day when the first cluster of cases was recognised, Hong Kong officials have provided open, honest, and abundant information about Sars to both the public and the media. Hong Kong also benefited from the contribution of its outstanding scientists, epidemiologists, and clinicians, who were at the forefront of efforts to track down source cases in the various clusters, identify the causative agent, develop diagnostic tests, and work out treatment protocols."

(GMcG)