The Press Office under the Ministry of Health published Saturday afternoon a press release on the latest SARS situation on the Chinese mainland. On May 17, 12 provinces reported new SARS cases, of which, 6 provinces reported both new cases and new suspected cases, 1 province reported new cases, 5 provinces reported new suspected cases, and the remaining 19 provinces reported no new case.

By 10:00 am May 17, 25 provinces have reported SARS cases. So far, Hainan, Guizhou, Yunnan, Qinghai provinces, Tibet and Xinjiang Uygur autonomous regions have not found any case. Of the provinces having reported suspected or diagnosed SARS cases, Heilongjiang still reported no diagnosed case; Anhui, Gansu, Shanghai, Jiangsu, Hubei and Hunan reported less than 10 diagnosed cases respectively; Ningxia, Zhejiang, Liaoning, Fujian, Chongqing, Jiangxi and Shandong reported less than 5 diagnosed cases respectively. Hunan, Fujian and Shandong had reported no new case for more than 20 days; Ningxia had reported no new case for 14 days; Jiangxi had reported no new case for 13 days, Hubei had reported no new case for 11 days; Henan and Chongqing had reported no new case for 10 days respectively; Zhejiang had reported no new case for 9 days; Shaanxi had reported no new case for 8 days; Shanghai and Anhui had reported no new case for 7 days; Jiangsu and Gansu had reported no new case for 6 days; and Liaoning had reported no new case for 5 days.

From 10:00 am May 16 to 10:00 am May 17, China reported 28 new cases, 62 patients recovered and 7 deaths. Of the 28 cases, 18 used to be suspected but now are confirmed as SARS patients.

Of these figures:

Beijing reported 19 new cases (of which 13 used to be suspected but now confirmed as SARS patients), 34 patients recovered and 4 deaths

Tianjin reported 1 new case, 2 patients recovered and 1 death

Hebei reported 8 patients recovered

Shanxi reported 1 new case (which used to be suspected but now confirmed as a SARS patient), 6 patients recovered and 1 death

Inner Mongolia reported 2 new cases (all of which used to be suspected but now confirmed as SARS patients), 4 patients recovered and 1 death

Jilin reported 2 new cases (all of which used to be suspected but now confirmed as SARS patients)

Shanghai reported 2 patients recovered

Anhui reported 2 patients recovered

Guangdong reported 2 new cases and 2 patients recovered.

Guangxi reported 1 new case and 2 patients recovered

By 10:00 am May 17, China had a total of 5,209 SARS cases (954 medical workers), which included 2,009 patients who had recovered and been discharged from hospital and 282 deaths. Now 2,918 patients are receiving treatment in hospitals.

From 10:00 am May 16 to 10:00 am May 17, China also reported 84 new suspected cases, including 41 from Beijing, 2 each from Tianjin, Shanghai, Shaanxi and Hubei, 5 from Hebei, 13 from Shanxi, 4 from Inner Mongolia, 1 each from Henan and Guangxi, and 11 from Guangdong.

From 10:00 am May 16 to 10:00 am May 17, China also reported 107 misdiagnosed suspected cases, of which 43 were from Beijing, 34 from Guangdong, 8 from Shanxi, 7 from Inner Mongolia, 3 each from Shanghai, Anhui, Sichuan and Shaanxi, 2 from Tianjin and 1 from Jiangsu. By 10:00 am May 17, China had a total of 2,132 suspected cases.

(China.org.cn May 17, 2003)