New Delhi: The World Health Organisation (WHO) and the central government have declared that India has no case of Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome (Sars) as on date since not a single person in India fits the case definition formulated by the WHO for the disease.

Addressing a joint press conference here, Union Health Minister Sushma Swaraj, and the WHO representative in India, S J Habayeb, said as per WHO definition a person could be considered as Sars-affected only if s/he met all the three following basic conditions: should have a fever more than 100.4 degrees Fahrenheit; should have difficulty in breathing or other respiratory problem; and should either have travelled to a Sars-affected country or should have been in contact with a known Sars patient.

In India, none except one person in Goa has so far satisfied all the three conditions and the condition of the person in Goa has also improved and he has been discharged. Consequently, the WHO has even removed India from the list of countries reporting Sars cases as of today, they said.

Asked how then was the government announcing detection of Sars cases from different parts of the country now and then, Swaraj clarified that what has been announced are only the results of tests on samples collected from suspected cases and they are made public "only with a view to tell the people that the government is transparent and has nothing to hide."

The test results, she and Habayeb emphasised, have no meaning unless the cases also have clinical symptoms.