The Press Office under the Ministry of Health published Thursday afternoon a press release on the latest SARS situation on the Chinese mainland. On May 8, 15 provinces reported new SARS cases, of which, 10 provinces reported both new cases and new suspected cases, 1 province reported new cases and 4 provinces reported new suspected cases, and the remaining 16 provinces reported no cases.

By 10:00 am May 8, 25 provinces have reported SARS cases. So far, Hainan, Guizhou, Yunnan, Qinghai provinces, Tibet Autonomous Region and Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region have not found any cases. Of the provinces having reported suspected or confirmed SARS cases, Heilongjiang still reports no diagnosed case; Fujian Province has had no reported case for 30 days while Shandong Province has reported no new case for 14 days. Since April 21, Hunan Province has reported no new case for 17 successive days, while Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region has reported no new case for 6 days and Ningxia Hui Autonomous Region has reported no new case for 5 days.

From 10:00 am May 7 to 10:00 am May 8, China reported 146 new cases, 43 patients recovered and 5 deaths. Of the 146 cases, 99 were suspected cases and now confirmed as SARS patients.

Of these figures:

Beijing reported 94 new cases (of which 57 used to be suspected but now confirmed as SARS patients), 11 patients recovered and 2 deaths

Tianjin reported 5 new cases (all of which were suspected but now confirmed as SARS patients), 1 patient recovered

Hebei reported 13 new cases (of which 7 used to be suspected but now confirmed as SARS patients) and 5 patients recovered

Shanxi reported 13 new cases (of which 12 used to be suspected but now confirmed as SARS patients), 3 recovered

Inner Mongolia reported 9 new cases (of which 7 used to be suspected but now confirmed as SARS patients)

Liaoning reported 1 new case (which was suspected but now confirmed as a SARS patient)

Jilin reported 1 new case (which was suspected but now confirmed as a SARS patient) and 1 death

Shanghai reported 1 death

Jiangsu reported 1 new case (which was suspected but now confirmed as a SARS patient)

Zhejiang reported 1 new case (which was suspected but now confirmed as a SARS patient)

Henan reported 1 patient recovered

Guangdong reported 7 new cases (of which 6 were suspected but now are confirmed as SARS patients), 17 patients recovered and 1 death

Sichuan reported 1 patient recovered

Shaanxi reported 1 new case (which was suspected but now confirmed as a SARS patient), and 2 recovered

Ningxia reported 2 patients recovered.

By 10:00 am May 8, China had a total of 4,698 SARS cases (917 medical workers), which included 1,529 patients who had recovered and been discharged from hospital and 224 deaths. Currently, a total of 2,945 patients are receiving medical treatment in hospital.

From 10:00 am May 7 to 10:00 am May 8, China also reported 207 new suspected cases, including 80 from Beijing, 8 from Tianjin, 11 from Hebei, 29 from Shanxi, 13 from Inner Mongolia, 1 from Jilin, 2 from Shanghai, 5 from Jiangsu, 1 each from Zhejiang, Jiangxi and Hubei, 53 from Guangdong, and 1 each from Sichuan and Shaanxi.

From 10:00 am May 7 to 10:00 am May 8, China reported 126 misdiagnosed suspected cases, of which, 51 from Beijing, 31 from Guangdong, 19 from Shanxi, 13 from Shaanxi, 5 from Inner Mongolia, 2 each from Shanghai and Sichuan, 1 each from Tianjin, Henan and Hubei. By 10:00 am May 8, China had a total of 2,648 suspected cases.

(China.org.cn May 8, 2003)