North China's Hebei Province has successfully controlled the spread
of SARS as illustrated by the very small number of cases reported
during what was expected to be a peak period from late May to early
June, said Vice-Governor Guo Gengmao, speaking to the press on
Thursday.
During the period from April 19, when the first SARS case was
reported in the province, to May 7, Hebei experienced an upward
trend in the spread of SARS, which peaked on May 1 with 18 daily
new cases.
The grave situation forced local authorities to adopt stricter
measures to control the spread of the disease, while medical
experts warned that a resurgence could occur between late May and
early June.
However, during the past month, the province has detected only 37
SARS patients, with no new SARS cases reported during the period
from May 30 to June 5.
As
of 8:00 a.m. Thursday, there had been a total of 216 SARS cases
reported in Hebei, of which 182 had been discharged from hospitals,
with 12 deaths and 22 hospitalized.
(Xinhua News Agency June 6, 2003)