The Press Office under the Ministry of Health published Friday afternoon a press release on the latest SARS situation on the Chinese mainland. On May 16, 11 provinces reported new SARS cases, of which, 6 provinces reported both new cases and new suspected cases, 1 province reported new cases, 4 provinces reported new suspected cases, and the remaining 20 provinces reported no cases.

By 10:00 am May 16, 25 provinces have reported SARS cases. So far, Hainan, Guizhou, Yunnan, Qinghai provinces, Tibet and Xinjiang Uygur autonomous regions have not found any cases. Of the provinces having reported suspected or diagnosed SARS cases, Heilongjiang still reported no diagnosed case; Anhui, Gansu, Shanghai, Jiangsu, Hubei, Hunan reported less than 10 diagnosed cases respectively; Ningxia, Zhejiang, Liaoning, Fujian, Chongqing, Jiangxi and Shandong reported less than 5 diagnosed cases respectively. Hunan, Fujian and Shandong had reported no new cases for more than 20 days; Guangxi had reported no new case for 14 days; Ningxia had reported no new case for 13 days; Jiangxi had reported no new case for 12 days, Hubei had reported no new case for 10 days; Henan and Chongqing had reported no new cases for 9 days respectively; Zhejiang had reported no new case for 8 days; Shaanxi had reported no new case for 7 days; Shanghai and Anhui had reported no new cases for 6 days; and Jiangsu and Gansu had reported no new cases for 5 days.

From 10:00 am May 15 to 10:00 am May 16, China reported 39 new cases, 89 patients recovered and 4 deaths. Of the 39 cases, 29 used to be suspected but now are confirmed as SARS patients.

Of these figures:

Beijing reported 28 new cases (of which 22 used to be suspected but now confirmed as SARS patients), 16 patients recovered and 1 death

Tianjin reported 3 new cases (of which 2 used to be suspected but now confirmed as SARS patients), 2 patients recovered and 1 death

Hebei reported 2 new cases (all of which used to be suspected but now confirmed as SARS patients), 3 patients recovered and 1 death

Shanxi reported 1 new case (which used to be suspected but now confirmed as a SARS patient), and 37 patients recovered

Inner Mongolia reported no new case and 13 patients recovered

Jilin reported 1 new case and 1 patient recovered

Shanghai reported 1 death

Anhui reported 2 patients recovered

Guangdong reported 2 new cases and 11 patients recovered.

Guangxi reported 1 patient recovered

Sichuan reported 2 new cases (both of which used to be suspected but now confirmed as SARS patients), and 1 patient recovered

Shaanxi reported 1 patient recovered

Gansu reported 1 patient recovered.

By 10:00 am May 16, China had a total of 5,191 SARS cases (952 medical workers), which included 1,947 patients who had recovered and been discharged from hospital and 275 deaths. Now 2,969 patients are receiving treatment in hospitals.

From 10:00 am May 15 to 10:00 am May 16, China also reported 94 new suspected cases, including 43 from Beijing, 3 from Tianjin, 10 from Hebei, 18 from Shanxi, 3 from Inner Mongolia, 2 each from Shanghai, Sichuan and Shaanxi; 1 from Jiangsu, and 10 from Guangdong.

From 10:00 am May 15 to 10:00 am May 16, China also reported 170 misdiagnosed suspected cases, of which 73 were from Beijing, 57 from Guangdong, 18 from Shanxi, 5 each from Tianjin and Shaanxi, 4 from Inner Mongolia, 2 each from Hebei and Chongqing, and 1 each from Sichuan, Henan, Gansu and Zhejiang. By 10:00 am May 16, China had a total of 2,173 suspected cases.

(China.org.cn May 16, 2003)