India is back on the World Health Organisation's list of countries reporting 'probable cases' of SARS after being declared SARS-free by the world body on May one.

The WHO had modified the definition of probable cases on May one. It website on SARS mentions one SARS-probable case in India.

All the cases reported in the country earlier, despite testing positive for the new Corona virus in samples, did not fall into the WHO's previous case definition of SARS-probable as they did not have symptoms of pneumonia in the lungs.

By the earlier definition, people whose samples tested positive for SARS virus, but did not have pneumonia were not categorised as SARS-probables.

According to the new case definition, a probable case is a person with high fever, cough or breathing difficulty, and with close contact with a SARS suspect or with probable case or a travel history to a place reporting local transmission of virus, who tests positive for SARS corona virus by one or more assays.

"We have taken into account one case in Kolkata who is SARS-probable according to the WHO's revised definition," Dr N Kumara Rai, WHO's representative in Delhi, said.

However, the cases reported prior to May 1 did not fall into the definition of SARS-probable, Rai said.

Meanwhile, one more person was on Wednesday declared as SARS-probable by health authorities in India. The 28-year-old man from Karnataka, who tested positive in the PCR (Polymerase Chain Reaction) test, has, however, not been included in the WHO list.

"We are aware of only one case in Kolkata. No other case has been notified to us," Rai said.

The Kolkata case is a 25-year-old man who was admitted on April 27 at the Infectious Diseases Hospital with fever and cough.

He had recently travelled to Hong Kong and his chest X-ray had shown symptoms of pneumonia. His samples tested positive for the new Corona virus.

Health officials said testing procedures had been made stricter.

PTI

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