The Press Office under the Ministry of Health published Tuesday afternoon a press release on the latest SARS situation on the Chinese mainland. On May 20, 11 provinces reported new SARS cases, of which, 4 provinces reported both new cases and new suspected cases, 7 provinces reported new suspected cases, and the remaining 20 provinces reported no cases.

By 10:00 am May 20, 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, 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 cases for more than 20 days; Ningxia had reported no new case for 17 days; Jiangxi had reported no new case for 16 days; Henan and Chongqing had reported no new cases for 13 days respectively; Zhejiang had reported no new case for 12 days; Shaanxi had reported no new case for 11 days; Shanghai and Anhui had reported no new cases for 10 days; Jiangsu and Gansu had reported no new cases for 9 days; Liaoning had reported no new case for 8 days.

From 10:00 am May 19 to 10:00 am May 20, China reported 17 new cases, 106 patients recovered and 5 deaths. Of the 17 cases, 15 used to be suspected but now are confirmed as SARS patients.

Of these figures:

Beijing reported 12 new cases (of which 10 used to be suspected but now confirmed as SARS patients), 46 patients recovered and 4 deaths

Hebei reported 3 new cases (all of which used to be suspected but now confirmed as SARS patients), and 16 patients recovered

Shanxi reported 1 new case and 8 patients recovered

Inner Mongolia reported 1 new case (which used to be suspected but now confirmed as a SARS patient) and 4 patients recovered

Tianjin reported no new case and 2 patients recovered

Liaoning and Shaanxi reported no new cases and 1 patient recovered respectively

Jilin reported no new case, 1 patient recovered, and 1 death

Guangdong reported no new case and 27 patients recovered.

By 10:00 am May 20, China had a total of 5,248 SARS cases (959 medical workers), which included 2,254 patients who had recovered and been discharged from hospital and 294 deaths. Now 2,700 patients are receiving treatment in hospitals.

From 10:00 am May 19 to 10:00 am May 20, China also reported 38 new suspected cases, including 17 from Beijing, 2 each from Shanxi, Liaoning and Hubei, 1 each from Tianjin, Hebei, Inner Mongolia, Shanghai, Henan and Guangxi, and 9 from Guangdong.

From 10:00 am May 19 to 10:00 am May 20, China also reported 122 misdiagnosed suspected cases, of which 56 were from Guangdong, 31 from Beijing, 9 from Shanxi, 6 from Inner Mongolia, 5 from Hebei, 4 from Shaanxi, 2 each from Tianjin, Shanghai and Jiangsu and 1 each from Jilin, Henan, Hubei, Sichuan and Gansu. By 10:00 am May 20, China had a total of 1,936 suspected cases.

(China.org.cn May 20, 2003)