- (AFP) -- Singapore was removed from the list of countries
with recent local transmissions of SARS, boosting the city-state's efforts
to revive its ailing tourism and related industries.
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- The World Health Organisation (WHO) changed Singapore's
status Saturday after it went 20 straight days without a new case of Severe
Acute Respiratory Syndrome (SARS) infection, but the island's government
reacted with caution.
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- "It is a recognition of the comprehensive and rigorous
measures that have been put in place in Singapore," the Ministry of
Health (MOH) said.
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- "Notwithstanding the WHO announcement, there will
be no pause in our efforts to maintain and further enhance all our existing
measures to isolate and contain the disease and to prevent any export of
the disease beyond our shores," it added.
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- A total of 31 people have died out of 206 SARS cases
in Singapore, which has imposed some of the world's most stringent measures
to contain the pneumonia-like outbreak in East Asia and Canada.
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- "The possibility of a future imported case sparking
off clusters of SARS cases in Singapore cannot be discounted," the
MOH said.
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- Canada's biggest city Toronto had earlier been taken
off the list but was put back on early this week, underscoring the volatility
of the situation for all affected countries.
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- The resurgence of SARS in Toronto showed "the battle
is not over for Singapore" said Vivian Balakrishnan, Minister of State
for National Development.
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- "Singapore will continue to receive patients with
SARS even if we are clear of it internally. Our borders are open and there
will from time to time pop up a patient with SARS," Balakrishnan said.
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- "Singaporeans will need to exercise responsibility
and sensible precautions," he said.
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- The Singapore economy has suffered enormously, with tourist
numbers and retail sales slumping and the official economic growth forecast
for 2003 slashed sharply to 0.5-2.5 percent.
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- "My reaction is a heavy burden going away,"
Ben Bousnina, general manager of Shangri-La's Rasa Sentosa Resort, told
AFP.
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- "Yes, it will boost the morale of everyone."
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- The WHO announcement came at an opportune time.
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- Singapore's summer school break is about to start and
the annual six-week retail festival, the "Great Singapore Sale,"
was launched Friday.
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- Retailers are counting on tourists and local shoppers
to go on a huge spending spree and help inject new life into the lethargic
economy.
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- Until Friday evening, Singapore's leaders had been careful
not to raise hopes too high as the nation edged closer to the 20-day mark
after failing to fulfill the timeline earlier this month.
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- Health ministry officials announced a last-minute case
on May 18, which was then the last day of Singapore's SARS-free waiting
period.
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- However, the new patient had been hospitalised on May
11, making May 31 the earliest day Singapore could be declared infection-free
for 20 days.
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- Singapore's mass home quarantines of potential cases,
forced school holidays and mandatory fever checks on travellers have been
imitated by other countries battling the still incurable disease.
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- "From the start, Singapore's handling of its SARS
outbreak has been exemplary," Dr. David Heymann, executive director
for communicable diseases at WHO, said in a statement from the UN health
watchdog's Geneva headquarters.
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- "This is an inspiring victory that should make all
of us optimistic that SARS can be contained everywhere."
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- The 20-day period represents twice the maximum incubation
period, which the WHO regards as "a reliable indication, following
established epidemiological principles, that a chain of transmission has
been broken."
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- More than 750 SARS patients have died worldwide out of
more than 8,300 cases, with China, Hong Kong and Taiwan the most severely
affected areas, followed by Singapore and Canada.
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