Hopeful Special Olympics competitors from five SARS-affected countries are likely to discover today whether they will be allowed travel to Ireland for the event which starts in less than three weeks.
The Department of Health's expert group will meet today to assess the latest developments in Canada, Singapore, Taiwan, China and Hong Kong - all banned from participating because of concerns that games participants could spread the deadly respiratory disease to Ireland.
The Special Olympics organising committee has called for a definitive answer today. "One way or other, it has to be finalised," Committee spokesman, Mr Julian Davis told today's The Irish Times.
On the day the Special Olympics torch left Greece on a 17-day journey to Dublin for the games' opening ceremony, the expert group's conclusions are likely to be taken as a final decision. They are due at their host towns by June 16th.
Singapore, Hong Kong and China will be hopeful the ban on their athletes will be lifted after a major fall in reported incidents of Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome (SARS). The World Health Organisation (WHO) removed them from their travel advisory list last week.
But the WHO has expressed doubts about the reliability of Chinese figures: "Although great improvements in surveillance, reporting, infection control, and public awareness have occurred in China in recent weeks, WHO remains concerned about the sensitivity of case detection in some provinces, and about the capacity of the health infrastructure to cope with a challenge on the scale of SARS.
"A particular problem is the large number of new cases reported - approximately half - without information on the source or setting of exposure. The absence of this information makes it difficult for WHO to assess the extent of local transmission," it said in its most recent statement.
Elsewhere, a resurgence of incidents in Canada; and Taiwan recording the most virulent spread of the virus in recent weeks makes it unlikely either team will be allowed attend.
The WHO yesterday issued a warning against any assumption that falling incidents meant the danger is passing.
Citing the example of Canada, where over 30 new incidents were reported last week after the North American country appeared to have got the spread of the illness under control, the WHO said: "The resurgence of cases in Toronto demonstrates how difficult it can be to maintain control over a new disease characterized by many puzzling epidemiological and clinical features.
"The continued alertness of Singapore, which has most recently broken the chain of SARS transmission, demonstrates the importance of staying on guard, with a high level of vigilance and preparedness, to ensure that a single imported case does not reignite an outbreak."
Currently, only parts of northern China are subject to a WHO advisory against all but necessary travel.