The number of newly admitted SARS patients on a day-to-day basis has declined in Beijing, a senior official of Beijing health bureau said Friday.
The number of SARS patients diagnosed and admitted has decreased to between 30 and 40 per day over the past week from averagely 70 to 80 per day between April 21 and May 2, Liang Wannian, deputy director of Beijing health bureau, told a press conference.
"Overall, we can say that the upward tendency of SARS cases has been effectively checked in Beijing, and the epidemic has showed a sign of declining," Liang, also an epidemiologist, said.
The mortality rate for SARS victims in Beijing is fluctuating at 5 percent, said Liang at the press conference.
The rate is floating because of numbers of SARS patients and deaths keep changing on a daily basis, but it stands stable at about 5 percent as calculated on the precise data of patients and deaths reported.
But the rates for different groups vary slightly, usually, bigger for the elderly or people with chronic diseases, Liang said.
(Xinhua News Agency May 8, 2003)
|