TAIPEI (AFP) - Taiwan reported no new cases of Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome (SARS (news - web sites)) and no new deaths, boosting its hopes that a World Health Organisation (WHO) travel warning on it would be lifted soon.
The Center for Disease Control (CDC) also marked down the total number of SARS cases on the island to 698 from 699 saying one case had been counted twice.
The number of fatalities from the pneumonia-like illness remained unchanged at 83.
The WHO on Friday moved its description of the pattern of local transmission of SARS in Taiwan from the top "C" category to the milder "B" category, Health Minister Chen Chien-jen said.
The WHO issued a warning May 8 against non-essential travel to Taipei, and extended it further on May 21 to cover all of Taiwan after outbreaks at several local hospitals sent the number of infections on the island surging.
Hopes the epidemic could be waning were buoyed after no new cases of SARS were reported over the weekend by the Taipei Municipal Yang-Ming Hospital, home to the newest cluster of infections.
"This suggests the Yang-Ming cluster of infections has been brought under control," a city government official said.
Hospitals have been on the frontline of Taiwan's SARS crisis since the first outbreak occurred at the Taipei Municipal Hoping hospital in mid-April.
The latest outbreak, though relatively minor, was detected at the Yang-Ming hospital early this month.
The Jen-Chi Hospital, also in the capital, was jammed with patients Monday as it was reopened following a closure since April.
The Hoping hospital resumed operations on June 9 after it was disinfected. The Hoping outbreak of SARS forced the hospital to shut down on April 24 with 200 patients and 900 staff being put into quarantine.
The hospital was the source of Taiwan's SARS epidemic which then spread to the south. A doctor and three nurses died at the hospital from the disease.
