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TORONTO/KUALA LUMPUR (Reuters) - Asian health ministers called on Saturday for checks on all departing passengers at airports to halt the spread of SARS, while the World Health Organization said it may consider dropping a bitterly contested travel warning against Toronto. As Toronto recorded its 20th death in its battle against SARS on Saturday, the WHO told Canadian television that it will review Canada's situation on Tuesday on whether to lift the warning against nonessential travel to Canada's biggest city. "There is a chance the advisory could be changed," WHO spokesman Dick Thompson told CBC television. The WHO announced on...

If nothing else, the SARS outbreak in Canada's largest city has at least given the world a chance to do what the rest of the country has been doing for years: make fun of Toronto.Canadian officials appear to be fighting a losing battle as they scramble to repair the damage to Toronto's reputation from a WHO travel warning.In a report entitled "SARS Attacks!," the U.S. television news parody show The Daily Show took a few jabs at Toronto on The Comedy Network this week. Host Jon Stewart interviewed "Senior Viral Analyst" Dr. Stephen Colbert, asking him: "Are the people there...

SARS fear prompts Placer Dome execs to use video for Toronto meeting canada.com Thursday, April 24, 2003 TORONTO (CP) -- Placer Dome Inc., Canada's second-biggest gold producer being Barrick Gold, says concerns about SARS have prompted the Vancouver-based firm's senior executives to avoid travelling to Toronto next week for the annual shareholders meeting. The executives will take part by video-conference, the company said Thursday, citing "current health concerns over SARS, including the World Health Organization travel advisory to postpone non-essential travel to Toronto." The annual meeting will take place Wednesday at 10 a.m. ET in Toronto's Royal York Hotel. Placer...

April 25 — GENEVA (Reuters) - The World Health Organisation has told Canada it will not lift its hotly contested warning against travel to Toronto over the SARS epidemic, a spokeswomen for the U.N. agency said on Friday. She said WHO chief Gro Harlem Brundtland had told Canadian Health Minister Anne McLellan of the decision during a telephone call late on Thursday. "The Director General (Brundtland) told the minister that, based on the information we have, there will be no suspension for Toronto," spokeswoman Christine McNab told a news briefing. Canada attacked the WHO on Thursday, saying the agency had...

GENEVA (Reuters) - The World Health Organisation has told Canada it will not lift its warning against travel to Toronto over the SARS epidemic, a spokeswomen for the U.N. agency has said. She said WHO chief Gro Harlem Brundtland had told Canadian Health Minister Anne Mclellan of the decision during a telephone call late on Thursday. "The Director General (Brundtland) told the minister that, based on the information we have, there will be no suspension for Toronto," spokeswoman Christine McNab told a news briefing. Canada attacked the WHO on Thursday, saying the agency had slapped the travel warning on its...

April 25, 2003 WHO's kidding? You're safe enough in Toronto, just watch out trying to get there By MARK BONOKOSKI -- Toronto Sun OTTAWA -- As the World Health Organization screamed that the sky was falling over Toronto, the chief medical officer here went on prime-time radio to assure residents of the nation's capital that there were better odds of dying in a traffic accident on the way to Toronto than contracting SARS if they happened to arrive safely. This, of course, is cold comfort to someone like me who, as fate would have it, lives out of a suitcase...

Angel pitcher Kevin Appier suggested Wednesday that Major League Baseball consider moving next week's Angel-Blue Jay series from Toronto to Anaheim in the wake of the severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS) outbreak in the Canadian city. Concerns about the disease linked to the deaths of 16 people in Toronto have spread through the Angel clubhouse after the World Health Organization advised travelers to avoid the city. Several players said they are worried about contracting the mysterious illness even if precautions suggested by major league officials are taken.

Canadian officials have lashed out at the World Health Organization for including Toronto among the places travelers should avoid because of the spread of the pnuemonia-like viral illness from Asia, Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome. Geneva-based WHO issued its latest advisory Wednesday as death tolls from the disease surged past 100 in mainland China and Hong Kong. Travelers have carried SARS from southern China to 26 other countries and territories around the world. The disease has killed at least 251 people and brought disaster to tourism-dependent economies. The worst outbreak outside of Asia is in Toronto, where at least 15 people...

Toronto is put into 'quarantine' over Sars outbreak By David Usborne in New York 24 April 2003 Toronto, the largest city in Canada, was placed under an unexpected quasi-quarantine yesterday after the World Health Organisation put it on a list of three destinations people should avoid because of severe acute respiratory syndrome. The advice, issued as the global death toll reached 251, said Toronto, Beijing and the Chinese province of Shanxi were places to avoid because of the risk of catching the virus. The organisation had previously warned against travel to Hong Kong and the Chinese province of Guangdong. The...

Irate officials blast SARS warning World travellers told to avoid Toronto for at least three weeks HELEN BRANSWELL CANADIAN PRESS The World Health Organization's warning against travelling to Toronto is an unnecessary move that could permanently damage the city, says the microbiologist at the front lines of battling the city's SARS outbreak.

The World Health Organization is warning travelers to avoid China's capital, Beijing, the northern Chinese province of Shanxi and the Canadian city of Toronto because of the spread of Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome. A spokesman for the Geneva-based organization said Wednesday all unnecessary travel to those places should be put off. The warning follows a similar advisory earlier this month that travelers avoid Hong Kong and the southeastern Chinese province of Guangdong, where the SARS outbreak is thought to have begun last November. The illness has killed an estimated 250 people around the world and infected nearly 4500. But the...