World Heath Organization (WHO) has praised the way in which the two countries Singapore and Vietnam, has tackled the issue of SARS but criticized china. China threatened the rest of the world by withholding information and denying the disease outbreak in the critical early months.
In its book WHO talks about how the virus affected the Hong Kong hospitals. It also talks about the way by which Taiwan handled the issue initially but eventually lost control of SARS. WHO officials feared that the Chinese would get offended and stop cooperating with the UN health agency and hence did not say so while fighting the outbreak.It said that China allowed SARS to spread unreported for three months. WHO officials clearly state that cases in China's Guangdong Province is believed to be the source of SARS. The disease quickly spread to Hanoi, Vietnam, and WHO asked China for information about its outbreak. It said that China failed to issue a warning as the virus spread across the country and outside its borders. Even the Beijing hospitals did not co operate and withheld data from WHO. But atlas they knew the consequences and tried to tackle the issue. SARS educated China that a rapid response is essential in fighting an epidemic. On the other hand Singapore served as a model for cracking down on SARS. It identified infections, traced cases, discouraged travel to places with SARS and enforced quarantines. Bu the book also talks about the sudden stop of the spread of the disease in Vietnam.
