travelnews: Travel Alert

[Carolyn Wooley <cwooley@oregon.uoregon.edu>]

Following message received from one of our contract travel agencies.

WHO CLEARS TORONTO OF SARS RISK

Toronto has been cleared of being a SARS risk area by the World Health
Organization (WHO) and taken off its warning list.
The decision was made following a teleconference between Toronto and
Health Canada officials and WHO. The teleconference, which was requested
by Health Canada, reviewed the adequacy of data on the SARS situation in
Canada and summarized the criteria and procedures used by WHO when making
decisions about which areas should be included in the list.
The most important WHO consideration is whether 20 days have passed since
the last locally acquired case was isolated or died. If no further cases
have occurred for 20 days, which is twice the maximum incubation period
for SARS, the chain of transmission is considered broken. The last locally
acquired case in Canada was isolated on 20 April.
WHO issues recommendations related to international travel as one of
several measures designed to reduce the risk of further spread of SARS.


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