The Press Office under the Ministry of Health published Monday afternoon a press release on the latest SARS situation on the Chinese mainland. On May 19, 8 provinces reported new SARS cases, of which, 2 provinces reported both new cases and new suspected cases, 1 province reported new cases, 5 provinces reported new suspected cases, and the remaining 23 provinces reported no new case.

By 10:00 am May 19, 25 provinces had 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 16 days; Jiangxi had reported no new case for 15 days; Henan and Chongqing had reported no new case for 12 days respectively; Zhejiang had reported no new case for 11 days; Shaanxi had reported no new case for 10 days; Shanghai and Anhui had reported no new case for 9 days; Jiangsu and Gansu had reported no new case for 8 days; and Liaoning had reported no new case for 7 days.

From 10:00 am May 18 to 10:00 am May 19, China reported 12 new cases, 69 patients recovered and 5 deaths. Of the 12 cases, 6 used to be suspected but now are confirmed as SARS patients.

Of these figures:

Beijing reported 7 new cases (of which 4 used to be suspected but now confirmed as SARS patients), 17 patients recovered and 3 deaths

Hebei reported 4 new cases (of which 1 used to be suspected but now confirmed as a SARS patient), 6 patients recovered and 1 death

Hubei reported 1 new case (which used to be suspected but now confirmed as a SARS patient)

Tianjin reported 2 patients recovered and 1 death

Shanxi reported 6 patients recovered

Inner Mongolia reported 11 patients recovered

Jiangsu reported 1 patient recovered

Sichuan reported 1 patient recovered

Guangdong reported 25 patients recovered

By 10:00 am May 19, China had a total of 5,236 SARS cases (960 medical workers), which included 2,148 patients who had recovered and been discharged from hospital and 289 deaths. Now 2,799 patients are receiving treatment in hospitals.

From 10:00 am May 18 to 10:00 am May 19, China also reported 64 new suspected cases, including 27 from Beijing, 2 each from Tianjin, Shanxi and Shaanxi, 12 from Hebei, 5 from Inner Mongolia, and 14 from Guangdong.

From 10:00 am May 18 to 10:00 am May 19, China also reported 104 misdiagnosed suspected cases, of which 51 were from Guangdong, 24 from Beijing, 11 from Shanxi, 7 from Inner Mongolia, 4 from Henan, 2 each from Shanghai, Jiangsu and Shaanxi, and 1 from Sichuan. By 10:00 am May 19, China had a total of 2,036 suspected cases.

(China.org.cn May 19, 2003)