The World Health Organization (WHO) is prepared to take Singapore off the list of SARS-affected areas by today if tests on the latest cluster of potential infections prove negative.
Singapore Prime Minister Goh Chock Tong said today the cases, among patients in the Institute of Mental Health, appear to be influenza.
"We have to wait to see what the results are. Singapore is in a period of fiercely crossed fingers," WHO spokesman said. "If the tests prove to be negative, we see no reason not to go ahead with the big celebration on Sunday."
If Singapore is free of Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome on Sunday, it will be 20 days after the last local transmission, or twice the estimated incubation period of the SARS virus.
Vietnam was the first country to be taken off the SARS list last month and Canada was declared to have contained the outbreak this week.
Singapore, with 28 deaths out of 205 cases, is among the worst hit along with China, Hong Kong and Taiwan. Their combined death toll account for most of the 600 SARS deaths and more than 7,600 cases worldwide.
AFP