Thailand and SARS

Posted on March 22, 2003 by admin
Thailand back on the list - March 22, 2003
Today they list 4 cases in Thailand with local transmission "to be determined." The Post also has an article about the first case.

WHO no longer mentions Thailand - March 21, 2003
Today's WHO report on SARS (Update 5) no longer mentions Thailand at all.

WHO clarifies - March 20, 2003
In response to these questions, "Did WHO make a mistake in listing Thailand? Will Thailand be taken off the WHO list for SARS?," WHO responds: As of 19 March 14:00 GMT+1, Thailand does not have any areas that are currently affected by SARS. There has been no documented transmission within the country so far. We are monitoring the situation in all countries on a daily basis. Denise Werker MD, WHO/CDS/CSR, 20 avenue Appia, CH-1211 Geneva 27, Switzerland
Also: On their daily affected areas page, they list Canada, Singapore, China, and Vietnam as the only countries with local transmission of SARS.

 WHO vs Thailand - March 20, 2003
CNN had a story (on March 18) about Thai insistence that there is no danger from the new deadly pneumonia (SARS) in Thailand and that WHO admitted it made a mistake in listing Thailand as a country where cases occurred (the CNN story has not yet been archived on the CNN site). Thai-language newscasts began reporting the "WHO admitted it made a mistake" story and both The Nation and Post reported it also (Thailand wrongly named as high-risk & WHO gives Thailand clean bill of health - "We want Thailand to be taken off the list because it could affect the tourism industry," public health permanent secretary Vallop Thainuea said. / No cases of SARS have been reported in Thailand yet).
Yet according to the WHO's website (WHO's update for March 18 and March 19), Thailand is still on the list (WHO website: As of Wednesday 19 March, a cumulative total of 264 suspected or probable cases and 9 deaths have been reported from 10 countries (Canada, China, Germany Singapore, Slovenia, Spain, Thailand, the United Kingdom, the United States of America, and Viet Nam.). Thailand is also still prominently listed on the main WHO page under "WHO issues emergency travel advisory."
2bangkok.com has asked WHO for a comment, but we have received no response.
This entry was posted in Health. Bookmark the permalink.

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published.

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.