SARS outbreak contained: WHO

The World Health Organisation on Saturday declared Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome contained.

"We do not marked the end of Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome today, but we observe a milestone," WHO Director General GRO Harlem Brundtland said in a statement.

"Taiwan is the last area to be removed from the list. It has been 20 days, or two consecutive 10-day incubation periods, since the last case on June 15," the statement said.

Based on country surveillance reports, the human chains of SARS virus transmission appear to have been broken around the world, it added.

But the agency warned, "The world is not yet SARS free."

The WHO chief was quoted as saying that there are still close to 200 SARS patients in hospitals and 'it is possible that 'cases have slipped through the net'.

"WHO warns that continued global vigilance for SARS is crucial for the foreseeable future."