The Press Office under the Ministry of Health published Wednesday afternoon a press release on the latest SARS situation on the Chinese mainland. On May 21, 5 provinces reported new SARS cases, of which, 2 provinces reported both new cases and new suspected cases, 3 provinces reported new suspected cases, and the remaining 26 provinces reported no new cases.

By 10:00 am May 21, 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 cases for 1 month; Ningxia had reported no new case for 18 days; Jiangxi had reported no new case for 17 days; Henan and Chongqing had reported no new cases for 14 days respectively; Zhejiang had reported no new case for 13 days; Shaanxi had reported no new case for 12 days; Shanghai and Anhui had reported no new cases for 11 days; Jiangsu and Gansu had reported no new cases for 10 days; Liaoning had reported no new case for 9 days; and Sichuan had reported no new case for 5 days.

From 10:00 am May 20 to 10:00 am May 21, China reported 12 new cases, 81 patients recovered and 2 deaths. Of the 12 cases, 11 used to be suspected but now are confirmed as SARS patients.

Of these figures:

Beijing reported 8 new cases (of which 7 used to be suspected but now confirmed as SARS patients), 52 patients recovered and 2 deaths

Hebei reported 4 new cases (all of which used to be suspected but now confirmed as a SARS patient), and 9 patients recovered

Shanxi reported no new case, and 10 patients recovered

Inner Mongolia reported no new case, and 2 patients recovered

Jinlin, Anhui, Shaanxi and Gansu reported no new cases, and 1 recovered respectively

Guangdong reported no new case, and 4 patients recovered.

By 10:00 am May 21, China had a total of 5,249 SARS cases (959 medical workers), which included 2,335 patients who had recovered and been discharged from hospital and 296 deaths. Now 2,618 patients are receiving treatment in hospitals.

From 10:00 am May 20 to 10:00 am May 21, China also reported 48 new suspected cases, including 34 from Beijing, 1 each from Hebei and Inner Mongolia, 3 from Shanxi, and 9 from Guangdong.

From 10:00 am May 20 to 10:00 am May 21, China also reported 116 misdiagnosed suspected cases, of which 52 were from Guangdong, 31 from Beijing, 8 from Inner Mongolia, 6 each from Hebei and Shanghai, 4 from Shanxi, 3 from Chongqing, 2 from Sichuan, 1 each from Tianjin, Zhejiang, Shaanxi and Ningxia. By 10:00 am May 21, China had a total of 1,857 suspected cases.

(China.org.cn May 21, 2003)