Vietnam said on Monday its SARS outbreak had been contained, becoming the first country to tame the virus, and the World Health Organisation (WHO) said the communist country offered hope to the world. Minister of Health Tran Thi Trung Chien told a news briefing the outbreak of Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome (SARS) had been ‘‘successfully contained’’. But ‘‘the threat of SARS import through international travel is great,’’ she added. Vietnam’s first infected ‘‘patient’’ had brought the disease in following travel to China and Hong Kong. The US businessman later died in Hong Kong. Pascale Brudon, country representative in Vietnam for WHO said: ‘‘We have been able to show that there is hope that SARS can be contained.’’ Vietnam has seen 63 infections of the flu-like disease. Included in that figure are the deaths of five medical workers, with the last case reported on April 8. WHO chief of communicable diseases David Heymann said in an interview in Bangkok that outbreaks of SARS had peaked in Canada, Singapore, Hong Kong and Vietnam, but not in China, where the disease first emerged last year. The number of Vietnam cases was revised down from 68, after five people were found to not have been infected by SARS, the ministry said. WHO was quickly given access to Vietnam’s patients when the disease was identified. The organisation had said that if no new SARS cases emerged in Vietnam by the end of April, it would be the first to be taken off the affected country list. Travel advisories on Hanoi — the site of all the infections — were also lifted, Brudon said. WHO, while lauding Vietnam’s record, urged caution. ‘‘We have to be careful. The disease is still in the world,’’ Brudon said. (Reuters)
