Attention fell back on Asia's attempts to contain SARS today as the World Health Organisation gave Canada a clean bill of health.
As the only country outside Asia to have recorded deaths from Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome (SARS), the WHO's declaration that SARS was no longer spreading in Canada was a positive sign the disease could be contained.
China, the worst affected country and the source of the virus, also insisted the situation was improving and that there was little sign of widespread infections in its vast countryside.
The numbers of new infections in China has also been steadily falling, although some experts have raised doubts about the country's reporting methods.
The WHO said it considered the chain of transmission was broken in Toronto, Canada's worst affected area, as no new locally contracted case had been diagnosed there for more than 20 days.
Canada recorded 24 deaths, all in the Toronto area. Globally, the death toll is approaching 600, and about 7,500 people have been infected in some 30 countries.
At the epicentre, the number of new infections in China has fallen to the lowest number since the government admitted covering up the extent of the outbreak last month.
Figures released yesterday showed 55 new cases, 39 of which were in the Chinese capital, bringing the cumulative number of cases nationwide to 5,124. Five deaths were also recorded - all in Beijing, which now has 139 dead among 267 deaths countrywide.