The Health Ministry is seeking clarification from the World Health Organisation (WHO) o­n the basis countries are labelled as being highly severe acute respiratory syndrome (Sars) affected.

The ministry said today a lack of a proper guideline may lead to unnecessary diplomatic tensions between Malaysia and these countries.

Health Minister Chua Jui Meng said at present WHO has not given a clear picture as to what constitutes for a country to be listed as "highly affected".

The minister told this to journalists after briefing Senators at the Parliament o­n the disease. Earlier he had similar meeting with state executive councillors in charge of health at his ministry.

As an example, Chua said that in a WHO document recently, Taiwan and the US were included in this category although a footnote said there were o­nly limited local transmission in affected areas in these countries.

Local transmission cases mean the spreading of Sars from a local source. In Malaysia, to date, all reported Sars cases are from patients returning from affected countries.

Strict visa ruling

He said that WHO must clarify the real status of the Sars outbreak in these two countries as they might be affected by preventive measures taken by the Malaysian government to stop the spread of this virus.

To avoid such a situation, Chua added, WHO must clarify its classification process.

"Even if there is o­ne case of local transmission Sars-related death here, we too can be categorised as a highly affected country and others can take measures to stop issuing visa to our people," he said.

At present, China, Vietnam, US, UK, Singapore, Taiwan, Canada and Hong Kong are listed by Who as 'highly effected countries'.

The government had imposed strict visa ruling for these countries, except Singapore, in a bid to prevent the spreading of Sars from these places into Malaysia.

Affecting bilateral ties

Following this, Taiwanese investors complained yesterday that such a ruling might harm bilateral ties between Malaysia and the island.

However the Taipei Investors Association had said that the visa controls have yet to have a serious impact o­n trade between the two countries.

Asked if the government was concerned over the pressure from Taiwanese businessmen, Chua said the government stood firm o­n tackling the Sars issue and will not relent to pressure from other countries.

Earlier the ministry also revealed the latest Sars figures in Malaysia.

The number of people under isolation in the Sars-designated hospitals has increased to 37 with 16 new notification cases reported yesterday, of which five patients are new suspected Sars cases.

Two deaths were also reported but the ministry is still awaiting post mortem reports to confirm if they were Sars-related.

A total of 23 countries are affected worldwide with 3,169 cases involving 144 deaths.