The useful information on severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS) offered by China during his two-day tour reflected China's efforts in controlling the disease, Dr. David Heymann, WHO executive director for communicable diseases, said at the joint press briefing hosted by the Chinese Ministry of Health and WHO.

Five SARS-hit Chinese provincial regions briefed Heymann on their SARS situation in detail on Wednesday.

The WHO official attributed the rapid decrease of SARS cases on the Chinese mainland to the "massive efforts in mobilizing the whole population".

He said the shorter time for the identification of SARS patients, and quick tracing and surveillance activities led to the rapid decrease of SARS cases on the Chinese mainland.

In some provinces, Heymann said, the time for identifying a SARS patient from the onset of symptoms had decreased from four days to one day.

Heymann said his visit to China was not an "inspection tour" but rather a visit for exchanging views with China on the SARS situation and to assess where China needed more support from the WHO.

"There's much more remains to be done," Heymann said. The WHO hoped to "constantly obtain data from China," he said.

China's case definition "compatible" with WHO's

China's SARS case definition is "compatible" with that of WHO, said Heymann, adding that China's SARS case definition is "more sensitive", resulting in more suspected SARS cases.

He noted that the eventual goal was still to set up a standard SARS case definition worldwide, added Heymann.

Gao Qiang, executive vice-minister of health, said that it was difficult to rely only on case definitions to diagnose SARS patients because of the incomplete understanding of the epidemic disease.

He acknowledged that it was imperative to develop a test kit for a more accurate diagnosis.

WHO assessment on China's anti-SARS efforts "positive, objective, fair"

WHO has given a "positive, objective and fair" assessment of China's anti-SARS efforts, Gao said.

Gao said that he had had a comprehensive and thorough conversation on SARS control with Heymann.

Gao said he had discussed with Dr. Heymann the measures to prevent a reoccurrence of SARS, and methods to improve China's prevention and treatment system for communicable diseases.

During the conversation, Gao expressed his thanks to the WHO for its help in China's battle against SARS, saying that his country will work in cooperation with the WHO in other areas in addition to SARS control.

China expects to cooperate with the WHO on a still broader and deeper level in the hope of improving its public health system, building up a sound public health system in rural areas, and training more qualified medical workers, Gao said.

Lifting of travel advisory to be decided by WHO director-general

Heymann said that decisions on whether to lift SARS travel advisories would be decided by WHO Director General Gro Harlem Brundtland according to preset standards.

Heymann said that the lifting of advisories was dependent on the number of active SARS case in certain areas, the number of new cases reported each day in an area, and the number of cases exported from one place to another.

He said he would take his report and present it to WHO Director General Brundtland on Friday morning.

Such decisions were made within a "standard format", he noted, adding that the WHO director-general may ask other questions for further information.

Dr. Heymann was on a two-day tour to China for an exchange of views with the Chinese Ministry of Health on the country's SARS prevention and control efforts.

He is expected to end his tour and leave China after the press briefing.

China strives to prevent reoccurrence of SARS

Gao said that China was striving to prevent the recurrence of the SARS outbreak.

According to Gao, China would closely collaborate with the international community to combat the flu-like virus, which had claimed 789 lives and affected 32 countries or regions worldwide as of June 10, according to WHO statistics.

The vice-minister noted that China and the WHO office in Beijing shared effective information exchange and the Chinese MOH offered all information available to the WHO office.

A deficient disease information network in China had led to a lack of SARS data when the SARS epidemic disease first broke out, Gao admitted.

Now the MOH had required health-care agencies all over the country to collect and report all SARS-related information, he added, including close contacts, case tracing data, and reviewing of early SARS patients.

"The data we provided to the WHO is based on months of work," he said, and his country will continue its anti-SARS work so as to avoid a recurrence of the epidemic.

(Xinhua News Agency June 12, 2003)