Hong Kong ‘free of SARS’
Hong Kong has been declared free of SARS by the World Health Organisation.
It has been 20 days since the last recorded case of SARS in the city. In Hong Kong alone, 296 people have died from the disease. The global death toll stands at 804.
There were worrying developments across the Pacific from Toronto, where two new SARS deaths were reported over the weekend. Toronto remains on the list of SARS-infected areas, along with Taiwan and Beijing.
In response to the WHO decision, Lufthansa has announced it is restarting flights to Asia.
Currently, flights are operating to Hong Kong and Beijing three times a week and Shanghai daily. From 1 July there will be five flights a week to Beijing, with daily services to Hong Kong and Shanghai. And from August, all three cities will be stepped up to daily services.
Lufthansa chief executive and chairman, Wolfgang Mayrhuber said demand had slumped up to 86% on some Asia routes.
He said “The trough of the crisis in the Asia-Pacific traffic area seems to have been passed. We now hope for a quick return to normal of the business traffic and a steady increase in demand in the region. Dependent on the customers’ wishes we are also in a position to offer additional flights at short notice.”
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