Canada:The Canadian Prime Minister Mr Jean Chrétien insisted yesterday that SARS appeared to be contained in Canada as the number of cases decreased.
In his first remarks since the World Health Organisation issued a travel advisory against Toronto due to its SARS outbreak, Mr Chrétien said: "The problem seems to be quite contained at this moment. The number of victims is not increasing, \ diminishing."
The Prime Minister, who returned on Thursday from a Caribbean vacation, faced growing criticism from the opposition that Ottawa was noticeably absent during Canada's SARS crisis.
He also repeated Ottawa's view that the World Health Organisation's decision to ban non-essential travel to Canada's largest city was wrong.
"We all believe that the World Health Organisation came to the wrong conclusion," Mr Chrétien said.
Since the outbreak seven weeks ago, Canada has seen 18 deaths - two were reported by city officials yesterday - all centred on metropolitan Toronto, the economic engine of Canada, and the provincial capital of Ontario.
Nationally, there were 327 possible SARS cases. Ontario officials yesterday reported the number of possible cases dropped by 10 to 257, the first drop in reported cases. Of the provincial total, 89 people are still in hospital and 132 have been discharged, health officials said. Mr Chrétien said he had spoken with WHO general director Ms Gro Harlem Brundtland about Canada's disagreement with the travel advisory. "She said that she would be in touch with me early next week," he said.
The Prime Minister, who had visited a restaurant in Toronto's Chinatown earlier this month, also announced his cabinet would meet next week in Toronto to demonstrate that the city is safe.
"To demonstrate in a very public way our commitment to the people of Toronto, I am announcing today that the cabinet will meet on Tuesday in Toronto, instead of Ottawa," he said.
He also announced a $10 million federal contribution to a $25 million marketing campaign to promote Toronto and Canada as a safe destination spot for travellers. - (AFP)