New Delhi: India is back on the World Health Organisation's (WHO) list of countries reporting "probable cases" of Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome (SARS) after being declared SARS-free by the world body on May 1.

The WHO's website on SARS mentions one SARS probable case in India. The WHO had modified the definition of probable cases on May 1.

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.

"We have taken into account one case in Kolkata who is a SARS probable according to the WHO's revised definition," Dr N Kumara Rai, WHO's representative in New 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 declared as "SARS probable" by health authorities in the country on May 6. The case, a 28-year-old man from Karnataka who tested positive in PCR (polymerase chain reaction) test, has not been included in the WHO's 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.

His chest X-ray had shown symptoms of pneumonia and he had a travel history to Hong Kong. His samples tested positive for the new Corona virus.

According to the new case definition, a probable case is a SARS suspect (a person with high fever, cough or breathing difficulty, and with close contact with 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.

Earlier definition included only those SARS suspects who showed pneumonia in lungs X-ray as SARS probables. People whose samples tested positive for SARS virus, but did not have pneumonia were not categorised as SARS probables.

Health officials said the testing procedures had been made stricter.

PTI