Beijing gets Sars all-clear

Guarding against Sars has become a way of life in Beijing

The World Health Organization has lifted its warning against travel to the Chinese capital Beijing, because of the Sars virus.

Beijing was the last area in the world still on the WHO travel alert list.

The news comes a day after Hong Kong was given the all-clear.

"This is very good news and shows the great progress the world has made against Sars," said Dr Gro Harlem Brundtland, Director General of the WHO.

Beijing had been the city worst affected by Sars in the world.

This is a milestone in the fight against Sars in China and around the world

Dr Shigeru Omi
WHO regional director

More than 800 people around the world have died from the respiratory disease, nearly half of them in China.

The last case of Sars in Beijing was isolated on 29 May and no new cases have recently been exported from the city, the WHO said.

Similarly, Hong Kong was declared free of Sars on Monday, 20 days after the last confirmed case of the disease in the territory.

"The WHO has concluded that the chain of person-to-person transmission, human-to-human transmission has been broken [in Beijing]," said Dr Shigeru Omi, WHO regional director for the Western Pacific.

SARS WORLDWIDE

Known death tolls:

World: 812

Mainland China: 348

Hong Kong: 298

Taiwan: 84

Singapore: 32

Canada: 38

Source: WHO/local authorities

Global update

"This is a milestone in the fight against Sars in China and around the world," he said.

Over the course of the outbreak, 2521 cases of Sars were reported in Beijing - 191 people in the city died.

At the height of the disease, more than 100 cases were being reported every day.

The WHO described the successful containment of Sars as a "tribute to the effectiveness of centuries-old control measures".

The WHO lifted travel warnings against Toronto, in Canada and Taiwan earlier this month.

However, the organisation says there is still a risk of spreading the infection in those two areas.