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yet been archived on the CNN site).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.
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