The World Health Organisation has lifted its travel advisory against all areas of the mainland except Beijing.
The UN agency issued a statement late last night saying it had dropped its advice to travellers to avoid unnecessary trips to Hebei, Shanxi, Inner Mongolia and the municipality of Tianjin.
'WHO is changing this recommendation as the situation in these areas has now improved significantly,' the statement said. 'Sars is no longer a potential threat to international travellers to these regions.''
The travel warnings, which were issued on April 23 and May 8, have caused tourism in the affected regions to grind to a halt.
WHO spokesman Dick Thompson said the advisory for Beijing would remain in place as the city still had a large number of active cases and the situation was not yet fully under control.
The advisory against travel to Taiwan was also maintained.
