The announcement came as the number of new SARS cases rose by more than 100 worldwide Tuesday with the bulk coming from China and Taiwan. To date, 7,548 people have been infected with SARS and 573 have died from it in 30 countries.
Several areas that were once hard-hit by the disease, including Vietnam, Singapore and Toronto, have managed to bring their outbreaks of the disease under control.
"Experiences in a growing number of countries indicate that the disease can be contained, thus supporting WHO's overall objective: to prevent SARS from becoming widely established as another new disease in humans," the international health agency said in a written statement.
Isolating people infected with the disease and monitoring their contacts to prevent them from transmitting the disease to others "can reduce the number of people exposed to each infectious case and eventually break the chain of transmission," the WHO said.
The agency cited Singapore as an example of how such measures could reduce the disease. Officials there have "instituted comprehensive procedures for contact tracing and isolation, and these measures appear to be working," the WHO statement said, adding, "These measures are being applied elsewhere, with SARS outbreaks coming under control in several areas."
However, WHO officials noted health workers still need to be vigilant to keep the disease in check.
"While trends are moving in an encouraging direction in many areas, even greater focus on control measures is needed if SARS is to be contained globally" because "a single case admitted to an unprepared hospital can ignite a new outbreak," the agency said.
"We can't become complacent," said Michael J. Ryan, who is coordinator of WHO's global alert and response program and has headed field responses to outbreaks of Ebola and other infectious diseases. "In fact, this is the time to intensify our efforts," Ryan added.
Taiwan and China still are struggling to bring their outbreaks under control. Taiwan continued to report a surge in new cases Tuesday with 23 more people infected and 10 more deaths from the disease, bringing the country's toll to 207 cases and 30 deaths.
China, which has been the hardest hit of any region, increased its count by 80 cases and 10 deaths. The country now has 5,086 cases and 262 deaths.
The bulk of the new cases came from Beijing with 48, Hebei with 14 and Shanxi with 13, according to the Chinese Ministry of Health.
Several areas of China have not seen new cases for 10 days or longer, an indication the disease may be coming under control in those regions because this is longer than what is thought to be the incubation period for SARS, the government said. These include Fujian Province, Hunan Province, Shandong Province, Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region and Ningxia Hui Autonomous Region.
Hong Kong, which continues to report fewer new cases, increased its total by only six Tuesday. However, seven more deaths were recorded, bringing the region's total to 1,689 people infected and 225 fatalities.
India reported two more cases giving it a total of three people infected but no deaths from the disease so far.
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