China: Harsh punishment in SARS fight
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BEIJING, China (CNN) -- China has warned that those who break SARS quarantine laws could face harsh penalties, including death.
China's Supreme Court said that anyone found to be intentionally spreading an infection that results in the death or severe injury of another person could face a sentence of anywhere from 10 years to death, according to the state-run Xinhua news agency.
The statement was issued a day after China's government declared the SARS epidemic under control.
And the World Health Organization is expressing optimism that the disease, which emerged in China's Guangdong province and has spread to 30 countries, may never become a worldwide epidemic.
Canada and Vietnam have been taken off the WHO list of countries where local transmission of the disease is occurring and David Heymann, director for communicable diseases at WHO, said progress is being made in Singapore, Hong Kong and Guangdong.
"We are beginning to tighten in on the disease. It is now back in Asia. At least, transmission is in Asia, as far as we understand, and eventually we hope that it can be contained throughout the world and not become an epidemic or an endemic disease," he said.
According to the Xinhua news agency, the country's Ministry of Health on Wednesday reported five new deaths -- all in Beijing -- and 55 new cases of the illness in mainland China.
It was the fifth straight day the number of new SARS cases on the Chinese mainland remained less than 100.
The number of cases followed a trend of gradual declines reported by Chinese health authorities.
Through Wednesday, the World Health Organization had tallied 5,124 SARS cases in China since the outbreak began. The national death toll was at 267.
In Canada on Wednesday, WHO reported SARS was no longer spreading in Toronto and took the Ontario city off the list of affected areas, saying "the chain of transmission is considered broken."
Worldwide, more than 7,600 cases of severe acute respiratory syndrome have been reported, with nearly 590 deaths.
