The World Health Organization (WHO) has declared Toronto, Canada SARS-free and removed the city from its list of affected areas, adding that it would declare Taiwan free of SARS this week "if no unexpected events occur."
Taiwan reported no new cases of SARS for the 17th consecutive day yesterday, bringing it another step closer to the 20-day point that will make it officially SARS-free in the eyes of the WHO.
"If no unexpected events occur, the last two areas in the world -- Toronto and Taiwan -- to have experienced local transmission of SARS will be declared later this week to have broken the chain of person-to-person transmission," the WHO said in a statement posted on its Web site.
"This achievement will mean that the SARS coronavirus is no longer thought to be circulating in the human population," the WHO said.
Government health officials expect the nation to be delisted by the WHO on Sunday, unless new infections occur.
The Center for Disease Control yesterday dropped two cases from its list of SARS after a review, reducing the number of infections to 676.
The death toll from the pneumonia-like epidemic stood steady at 84, and 34 people were still in hospital with the disease, the center said.
In related news, the number of arrivals from China is expected to increase from tomorrow, when the government will fully lift its "B category" quarantine requirement for arrivals from China, the Cabinet's SARS Prevention and Relief Committee said yesterday.
As of yesterday, 18 of the 34 SARS patients in hospital needed intensive care treatment, the committee reported, adding that 85 people who had close contact with SARS patients remain under "category A" quarantine, while 12,607 people who had returned from SARS-affected areas were under "category B" quarantine.
The Department of Health said that although Taiwan might be removed by the WHO from its list of areas with local transmissions soon, the Cabinet's committee will continue to operate for an additional 10 days.
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A magnitude 4.3 earthquake struck eastern Taiwan's Hualien County at 8:31am today, according to the Central Weather Administration (CWA). The epicenter of the temblor was located in Hualien County, about 70.3 kilometers south southwest of Hualien County Hall, at a depth of 23.2km, according to the administration. There were no immediate reports of damage resulting from the quake. The earthquake's intensity, which gauges the actual effect of a temblor, was highest in Taitung County, where it measured 3 on Taiwan's 7-tier intensity scale. The quake also measured an intensity of 2 in Hualien and Nantou counties, the CWA said.
The Overseas Community Affairs Council (OCAC) yesterday announced a fundraising campaign to support survivors of the magnitude 7.7 earthquake that struck Myanmar on March 28, with two prayer events scheduled in Taipei and Taichung later this week. “While initial rescue operations have concluded [in Myanmar], many survivors are now facing increasingly difficult living conditions,” OCAC Minister Hsu Chia-ching (徐佳青) told a news conference in Taipei. The fundraising campaign, which runs through May 31, is focused on supporting the reconstruction of damaged overseas compatriot schools, assisting students from Myanmar in Taiwan, and providing essential items, such as drinking water, food and medical supplies,
Taiwan is stepping up plans to create self-sufficient supply chains for combat drones and increase foreign orders from the US to counter China’s numerical superiority, a defense official said on Saturday. Commenting on condition of anonymity, the official said the nation’s armed forces are in agreement with US Admiral Samuel Paparo’s assessment that Taiwan’s military must be prepared to turn the nation’s waters into a “hellscape” for the Chinese People’s Liberation Army (PLA). Paparo, the commander of the US Indo-Pacific Command, reiterated the concept during a Congressional hearing in Washington on Wednesday. He first coined the term in a security conference last
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