Relief In Hong Kong As WHO Lifts SARS Warning

by Mary Swire, Tax-News.com, Hong Kong

24 June 2003

Residents and businesses in Hong Kong breathed a collective sigh of relief yesterday after the World Health Organisation (WHO) announced that the territory was being officially removed from its list of SARS affected areas.

The declaration came following twenty days without any new infections and followed the WHO's lifting of its travel advisory warning last month. The US State Department has also allowed government workers to return to the province as the disease shows tangible signs of ebbing.

However, a note of caution has been sounded by some experts following the case of Toronto which was removed from the WHO list recently only to be placed back on it as more cases emerged. Two people succumbed to the disease in the Canadian city at the weekend. Beijing and Taiwan also remain on the organisation's danger list.

Hong Kong was the second most severely affected location after China, witnessing 1,754 infections, and the disease took nearly 300 lives in total. It also had a devastating impact on the economy. Recent figures tell their own story with GDP slipping 1.8% in April and 1.7% in May. The crisis has also pushed the unemployment rate above 8% and had a severe effect on the territory's tourist trade with visitor numbers down 65% compared to the same time last year. However, Selina Chow, head of the Hong Kong Tourism Board, was optimistic that these numbers will quickly increase, and anticipates 1 million visitors per month between July and September

Recommended