An "Affected Area" is defined as a region at the first administrative level where the country is reporting local transmission of SARS, within the last 20 days.

*Area with limited local transmission and no evidence of international spread from area since 15 March 2003 and no transmission other than close person-to-person contact reported.

The website of affected countries and the number of people reported with SARS, by country is updated every day and can be found at http://www.who.int/csr/sars/en/ .

HANOI- The cumulative number of SARS cases in Vietnam remains at 63, including 5 deaths. There have been 56 discharged patients. 2 patients remain in the Tropical Medicine Institute of Bach Mai Hospital, and these are expected to be discharged soon.

WHO welcomes the agreements of the Heads of State/Government of ASEAN who gathered in Bangkok, Thailand for the Special ASEAN Leaders Meeting on SARS on 29 April 2003. They agreed to establish an ad-hoc Ministerial-level Joint Task Force comprising the ASEAN (plus People's Republic of China, Japan and the Republic of Korea) Health Ministers Special Meeting on SARS.

A number of specific agreements were made including:
· To intensify efforts to prevent the spread of SARS by strengthening multi-sectoral collaboration involving relevant government agencies as well as the private sector;
· To strengthen cooperation among front line enforcement agencies such as health, immigration, customs, transport and law enforcement;
· To establish and strengthen early warning systems on emerging infectious diseases in cooperation with the WHO and other international health programmes;
· To cooperate and establish standardized and, if possible, harmonized measures for proper health screening at borders and entry points between affected ASEAN countries;
· To strengthen existing collaboration between ASEAN and the WHO on identified potential public health risks, especially new, emerging and re-emerging infectious diseases, with an emphasis on prevention and control programmes;
· To request the WHO to conduct a review of the classification of "affected' countries; review and update guidelines on travel; expedite the development of test kits and vaccines; and formulate and provide further technical guidelines on interventions relating to SARS;
· To collaborate in regional activities that support national programmes particularly in the areas of epidemiology, control measures, quarantine measures of SARS cases in each member country.

The WHO Representative, Mrs Pascale Brudon said today "the recommended measures are extremely useful and will provide short, medium and long-term framework for countries to prevent and control SARS".

Until 1st May, WHO reports a global cumulative total of 5865 SARS cases including 391 deaths from 27 countries. 2563 patients have recovered from SARS.

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VIETNAM UPDATE 8th May 2003 (Vietnamese Version)

HANOI- The cumulative number of SARS cases in Vietnam remains at 63, including 5 deaths. All the 58 patients have been discharged.

The World Health Organization is collaborating with the Ministry of Health to conduct some studies about SARS. Ms Pascale Brudon, the WHO Representative in Vietnam said today "Vietnam is unique in containing the SARS outbreak, the only country to have done so. But there are many unanswered questions about this new disease and now Vietnam is helping the rest of the world. The findings from these studies will help determine the response to SARS in other countries, so they are very important."

"At the moment we are studying people who did not get SARS even though they were patients at the French Hospital as well as people who came in contact with SARS cases. Finding out why these people did not get SARS is very important, but it depends on as many people as possible out of these groups filling in a short questionnaire and giving a very small amount of blood. I urge people who are contacted by the investigation teams to help us, and by doing so, contribute to the global fight against SARS" said Ms Brudon.

Until 7th May, WHO reports a global cumulative total of 6903 SARS cases including 495 deaths from 29 countries. 2885 patients have recovered from SARS.

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VIETNAM UPDATE 15th May 2003 (Vietnamese version)

HANOI- There have been no new cases of SARS in Vietnam. The cumulative number of SARS cases in Vietnam remains at 63, including 5 deaths. All the remaining 58 patients have been discharged.

The Ministry of Health continues to monitor and evaluate the health of people who have any health symptoms that could suggest SARS however no new cases have been identified. Professor Aileen Plant, the Coordinator of the WHO Expert Team for SARS in Vietnam said today "The Vietnamese authorities are working hard to keep SARS out of Vietnam. They are following-up many rumors and vague stories, however none of these have led to a diagnosis of SARS. Some individuals have been hospitalized for medical observation however in all instances SARS has been excluded"

"Looking for cases of SARS that may have entered the country is extremely important, and the authorities should be congratulated for their vigilant approach. This is an extremely important if SARS is to remain contained in Vietnam."

Until 14th May, WHO reports a global cumulative total of 7628 SARS cases including 587 deaths from 29 countries. 3397 patients have recovered from SARS.

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