New Delhi: The World Health Organisation (WHO) has described India as a (Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome) SARS-free country "as on date", Union Health Minister Sushma Swaraj said in New Delhi on May 1.

"As on date, India can be called a SARS-free country," she told reporters after reviewing the situation at a high level meeting in New Delhi.

She said although 20 cases had tested positive for the SARS Virus, none of them have fallen in the WHO definition of the killer disease.

Stating that India was not a "locally-transmitting" country, Swaraj said that WHO had placed India initially as a "reporting" country.

"Now WHO has removed India from that category also on its website," she said.

The WHO representative who attended the high-level review meeting had said there was "zero-case" in the country.

When asked whether the government understood the WHO definition, she said, "we were very cautious. Rather over-cautious. We wanted to be very transparent."

The general public will never understand the difference between the probable and the suspect, said the minister.

PTI