The Press Office under the Ministry of Health published Saturday afternoon a press release on the latest SARS situation on the Chinese mainland. On May 31, 2 provinces reported new SARS cases, of which, 1 province reported both new diagnosed cases and new suspected cases, 1 province reported new suspected cases, and the remaining 29 provinces reported no new case.

From 10:00 am May 30 to 10:00 am May 31, China reported 1 new case, 121 patients recovered and 4 deaths. The new case used to be suspected but now is confirmed as a SARS patient.

Beijing reported 1 new case (who used to be suspected but now confirmed as a SARS patient), 81 patients recovered and 4 deaths.

The remaining provinces reported no new diagnosed case or death.

Patients who had recovered and been discharged from hospital included 15 from Inner Mongolia, 10 from Tianjin, 6 from Hebei, 3 from Shanxi, 2 each from Guangdong and Shaanxi, and 1 each from Jilin and Henan.

By 10:00 am May 31, China had a total of 5,328 SARS cases (967 medical workers; Hebei reported 1 misdiagnosed case), which included 3,371 patients who had recovered and been discharged from hospital and 332 deaths. Now 1,625 patients are receiving treatment in hospitals.

From 10:00 am May 30 to 10:00 am May 31, China also reported 10 new suspected cases, including 6 from Beijing and 4 from Guangdong.

From 10:00 am May 30 to 10:00 am May 31, China also reported 48 misdiagnosed suspected cases, of which 18 were from Beijing, 14 from Guangdong, 5 from Inner Mongolia, 3 from Hebei, 2 each from Shanxi, Hubei and Chongqing, and 1 each from Anhui and Hunan. By 10:00 am May 31, China had a total of 1,003 suspected cases.

By 10:00 am May 31, 26 provinces had reported SARS cases. So far, Hainan, Guizhou, Yunnan, Qinghai provinces, and Tibet Autonomous Region have not found any case. Of the provinces having reported suspected or diagnosed SARS cases, Heilongjiang and Xinjiang still reported no diagnosed case; Ningxia, Zhejiang, Fujian, Chongqing, Jiangxi and Shandong reported less than 5 diagnosed cases respectively; Anhui, Shanghai, Gansu, Jiangsu, Hubei, Liaoning and Hunan reported less than 10 diagnosed cases respectively. Hunan, Fujian and Shandong had reported no new diagnosed case for more than 1 month; Ningxia, Jiangxi, Henan, Chongqing, Zhejiang, Shaanxi, Anhui, Jiangsu and Gansu had reported no new diagnosed case for 20 days; Tianjin, Jilin, Guangdong, Guangxi and Hubei had reported no new diagnosed case for 10 days; Shanghai and Sichuan had reported no new diagnosed case for 8 days; Liaoning had reported no new diagnosed case for 7 days; and Shanxi and Inner Mongolia had reported no new diagnosed case for 5 days.

(China.org.cn May 31, 2003)