TORONTO (Reuters) - The World Health Organization (news - web sites) gave Canada a clean bill of health on Wednesday and said SARS (news - web sites), which killed two dozen people in the Toronto area, is no longer spreading in the country.
The agency removed Toronto from its list of areas where the flu-like virus is being transmitted because 20 days -- or twice the maximum incubation period -- have passed with no new cases.
This means the virus is under control. The last locally acquired case in Canada was isolated on 20 April.
SARS killed one more victim in Toronto this week, a woman who had been ill for a while, lifting the Canadian death toll to 24. The virus has killed nearly 600 people worldwide and infected more than 7,500 in nearly 30 countries.
In Toronto, the epicenter of the outbreak in Canada, there were 138 probable cases as of on Wednesday and one patient listed in critical condition.
Almost two thirds of the world's SARS cases have occurred in China, where the outbreak first appeared in November.
The agency removed Toronto from its list of areas where the flu-like virus is being transmitted because 20 days -- or twice the maximum incubation period -- have passed with no new cases.
This means the virus is under control. The last locally acquired case in Canada was isolated on 20 April.
SARS killed one more victim in Toronto this week, a woman who had been ill for a while, lifting the Canadian death toll to 24. The virus has killed nearly 600 people worldwide and infected more than 7,500 in nearly 30 countries.
In Toronto, the epicenter of the outbreak in Canada, there were 138 probable cases as of on Wednesday and one patient listed in critical condition.
Almost two thirds of the world's SARS cases have occurred in China, where the outbreak first appeared in November.
