Singapore celebrates

A relieved Singapore celebrated its victory over SARS yesterday with stores on its Orchard Road shopping street offering big discounts and thousands of people expected to gather for a riverside party.

The World Health Organisation removed Singapore from its list of SARS-affected areas from midnight on Friday after health authorities ended an outbreak of the pneumonia-like virus that killed 31 people and infected 206.

"We are tremendously relieved that WHO has taken us off the list of SARS infected countries," said James Papineau, project director at Singapore Can-Lah, a group representing hotel, tourism and trade industries.

Papineau said the group, set up to dispel worry about SARS, has sent e-mail invitations to 10,000 people to join the bash. Singapore thought it was going to be dropped from the WHO list about two weeks ago but hopes were dashed when a new case was confirmed just as the city was ending a 20-day countdown of no new cases.

WHO set a 20-day without a new case benchmark benchmark because it is believed to be twice the incubation period for the virus. Singapore's tourist authorities have launched a series of campaigns aimed at getting residents back out and about and to reassure overseas visitors.