Last updated at: (Beijing Time) Thursday, April 03, 2003
Japan Takes Steps to Prevent SARS from Entry
The Jpanese health ministry urged local authorities Thursday to raise awareness about a new type of deadly pneumonia virus spreading rapidly in Asia and contacted other ministries to cooperate in strengthening measures to prevent the illness from hitting Japan, ministry officials said.
The Jpanese health ministry urged local authorities Thursday to raise awareness about a new type of deadly pneumonia virus spreading rapidly in Asia and contacted other ministries to cooperate in strengthening measures to prevent the illness from hitting Japan, ministry officials said.
Echoing the WHO's caution, the health ministry said it would like Japanese to postpone travel to the two regions ( to China's Guangdong Province and Hong Kong) as much as possible, although the Foreign Ministry on Wednesday stopped short of issuing a travel warning.
The health ministry has contacted concerned departments at the Foreign Ministry, the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport, the Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries, and the Justice Ministry to increase necessary measures at places such as airports in an effort to prevent the disease from spreading to the country.
But analysts said that as the infection route and treatment of SARS remain unknown, there is no effective way to prevent SARS from entering Japan.
Social chaos can be expected if SARS infections spread in the country. The health ministry officials said they are maintaining an extensive network to track and investigate infection trends, such as asking doctors to report any patients diagnosed with fevers of 38 C or above after returning from affected regions.