North China's Hebei Province has successfully controlled the spread of SARS as illustrated by the very small number of cases reported during what was expected to be a peak period from late May to early June, said Vice-Governor Guo Gengmao, speaking to the press on Thursday.
During the period from April 19, when the first SARS case was reported in the province, to May 7, Hebei experienced an upward trend in the spread of SARS, which peaked on May 1 with 18 daily new cases.
The grave situation forced local authorities to adopt stricter measures to control the spread of the disease, while medical experts warned that a resurgence could occur between late May and early June.
However, during the past month, the province has detected only 37 SARS patients, with no new SARS cases reported during the period from May 30 to June 5.
As of 8:00 a.m. Thursday, there had been a total of 216 SARS cases reported in Hebei, of which 182 had been discharged from hospitals, with 12 deaths and 22 hospitalized.
(Xinhua News Agency June 6, 2003)
