Canada Public Announcement
Issued by US Department of State
Mar 31, 2003
This Public Announcement is being issued to alert U.S. citizens to the declaration of a Provincial health emergency in Ontario, Canada. This Announcement expires on June 26, 2003.
On March 26, the Government of Ontario declared Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome (SARS) to be a provincial emergency. The declaration follows the deaths of three individuals from SARS and the apparent manifestations of the disease in more than 50 individuals across the province. Canada is attempting to limit the spread of the outbreak by screening all passengers at airports for SARS symptoms. Health Canada sent staff to Pearson and Vancouver International Airports to help monitor passengers arriving on direct flights from affected areas for flu-like symptoms and to assist those who appear to be ill. Two major hospitals have been closed or restricted in the past 24-48 hours; other hospitals may also be affected. Ontario hospitals are operating under severe measures such as limiting access,restricting patient transfers between hospitals and requesting that those at risk of developing SARS place themselves under voluntary quarantine in their homes.
Detailed information on SARS is available from the Centers for Disease
Control, http://www.cdc.gov, the World Health Organization
