April 11 2003 at 06:57AM
IOL
Beijing - A medical expert from China's Guangdong province, where the deadly severe acute respiratory syndrome epidemic first appeared, said on Friday that the disease was not under control, despite proclamations to that effect by Chinese leaders.
Zhong Nanshan, director of the Guangzhou Institute of Respiratory Diseases, said it was better to describe the SARS situation in Guangdong, which has handled more than half the world's cases, and the rest of China as "contained".
"From a medical aspect, this disease hasn't been effectively controlled," he told a news conference.
"We should not use the word 'control'. I think we should use a more objective phrase, such as 'effectively contained', because how can you control it if even the origin of the disease is still unclear?" he said.
Zhong's comments came after repeated statements by government officials, including the health minister, that the little understood flu-like disease was "under effective control".
But some officials softened their wording on Thursday to say it was "stable" or "contained".