A steady drop in SARS numbers in China may cause the World Health Organization (WHO) to remove a warningagainst travel to parts of the country.
The WHO's suggestion that it might change its travel advisory for large tracts of northern China came one day after the government announced no new cases for the first time in more than a month.
WHO travel warnings are in place for Beijing andTianjin cities and the provinces of Hebei, Shanxi and InnerMongolia.
The nationwide death toll is 334, with the number of people infected with Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome (SARS) on the mainland now 5,328.
However, remarks by a senior Manila-based WHO official published in the International Herald Tribunetoday are less favourable to China.
"The World Health Organization is still in urgent need ofinformation that we are just not getting from China," said Mr Hitoshi Oshitani, who is leading the WHO's battle against SARS in Asia.
"On a policy level things have changed in China, but that has not altered attitudes on an operational level," he said.