The Press Office under the Ministry of Health published Saturday afternoon a press release on the latest SARS situation on the Chinese mainland. On May 24, 8 provinces reported new SARS cases, of which, 4 provinces reported both new cases and new suspected cases, 1 province reported new cases, 3 provinces reported new suspected cases, and the remaining 23 provinces reported no new case.

By 10:00 am May 24, 26 provinces had reported SARS cases. So far, Hainan, Guizhou, Yunnan, Qinghai provinces, and Tibet Autonomous Region have not found any case. Of the provinces having reported suspected or diagnosed SARS cases, Heilongjiang and Xinjiang still reported no diagnosed case; Anhui, Shanghai, Gansu, Jiangsu, Hubei, Hunan and Liaoning reported less than 10 diagnosed cases respectively; Ningxia, Zhejiang, Fujian, Chongqing, Jiangxi and Shandong reported less than 5 diagnosed cases respectively. Hunan, Fujian and Shandong had reported no new case for more than 1 month; Ningxia and Jiangxi had reported no new case for 20 days; Henan and Chongqing had reported no new case for 17 days respectively; Zhejiang had reported no new case for 16 days; Shaanxi had reported no new case for 15 days; Anhui had reported no new case for 14 days; Jiangsu and Gansu had reported no new case for 13 days; Tianjin, Jilin and Guangdong had reported no new case for 7 days; Guangxi had reported no new case for 6 days and Hubei had reported no new case for 5 days.

From 10:00 am May 23 to 10:00 am May 24, China reported 34 new cases, 131 patients recovered and 5 deaths. Of the 34 cases, 30 used to be suspected but now are confirmed as SARS patients.

Of these figures:

Beijing reported 26 new cases (of which 24 used to be suspected but now confirmed as SARS patients), 85 patients recovered and 3 deaths

Shanxi reported 4 new cases (of which 2 used to be suspected but now confirmed as SARS patients), and 16 patients recovered

Inner Mongolia reported 2 new cases (both of which used to be suspected but now confirmed as SARS patients), 8 patients recovered and 1 death

Hebei reported 1 new case (which used to be suspected but now confirmed as a SARS patient), and 7 patients recovered

Liaoning reported 1 new case (which used to be suspected but now confirmed as a SARS patient), and 1 death

Tianjin reported no new case, and 10 recovered

Jilin reported no new case, and 2 recovered

Jiangsu, Anhui and Guangdong reported no new case, and 1 recovered respectively

By 10:00 am May 24, China had a total of 5,309 SARS cases (963 medical workers; Beijing and Shanxi respectively reported 1 misdiagnosed case, Hebei reported 6 misdiagnosed cases and Inner Mongolia reported 2 misdiagnosed cases.), which included 2,675 patients who had recovered and been discharged from hospital and 308 deaths. Now 2,326 patients are receiving treatment in hospitals.

From 10:00 am May 23 to 10:00 am May 24, China also reported 37 new suspected cases, including 19 from Beijing, 2 each from Hebei and Shanxi, 1 each from Shanghai, Jilin and Inner Mongolia, and 11 from Guangdong.

From 10:00 am May 23 to 10:00 am May 24, China also reported 89 misdiagnosed suspected cases, of which 40 were from Beijing, 11 from Hebei, 18 from Guangdong, 8 each from Shanxi and Inner Mongolia, 2 from Hubei and 1 each from Guangxi and Shaanxi. By 10:00 am May 24, China had a total of 1,632 suspected cases.

(China.org.cn May 24, 2003)