Safety advice: Following intense pressure from a furious Canadian government, the World Health Organisation yesterday lifted its warning against non-essential travel to Toronto, saying it was satisfied with local measures to stop the spread of the deadly SARS virus.
The situation in the largest Canadian city has improved enough to allow the advisory to be lifted, said Dr Gro Harlem Brundtland, WHO director-general, though Toronto was still considered an "affected area".
The factors involved in the decision were no new cases, a drop in the number of probable SARS cases, and the passing of 20 days since the last case of community transmission.
The 20-day period is important as it means two periods of the germ's 10-day incubation period have passed, the measure the WHO uses before saying a place is safe to visit.
The lifting of the travel advisory came after Ontario Health Minister Mr Tony Clement led a Canadian delegation to Geneva to argue that the WHO ban - due to last three weeks - was unfair and unnecessary.
The WHO had already conceded on Monday that Canada appeared over the worst of the SARS outbreak that has claimed 21 lives out of more than 140 reported cases. Canada is the only non-Asian country where people have died from the infection and most of the cases have been in Toronto hospitals.
Civic leaders were outraged when WHO last Wednesday ranked the city alongside Beijing as a place to be avoided.
Toronto had already become a ghost city with near-empty hotels and the WHO warning caused a further drop in the number of tourists as conferences, concerts and other events were cancelled. Baseball games continued but players were advised to use their own pens to sign autographs.
The Toronto Dominion Bank has warned that the SARS outbreak could cost the Canadian economy €1.5 billion.
Mr Clement said that the advisory was lifted partly because of the successful containment of the disease within the Ontario health community .
Most of the victims have been doctors and nurses who came into contact with the cluster affected by a traveller from China. Outside of healthcare workers, there has been no SARS infection in Toronto since April 9th, 21 days ago.
Mr Clements appealed to people to come back to Toronto. "Our doors are open," he told a press conference in Geneva.
With 39 probable SARS cases and 498 people in quarantine, hospitals in Toronto have begun to return to normal and the disease's spread appears to be contained.
A WHO team will arrive in Toronto today to attend an international conference on the disease and to inspect the city's methods in trying to contain the infection.
Federal Health Minister Ms Anne McLellan said the government would introduce a variety of measures, including infrared technology to detect fever among passengers at airports and other points of entry.
The SARS outbreak has had political repercussions in Canada, with opposition calls for the resignation of Ms McLellan over her alleged inaction on the SARS crisis and the federal government's failure to implement adequate screening procedures.