Control of SARS Virus Vital: Chinese Premier

Home>>China

Last updated at: (Beijing Time) Monday, April 14, 2003

Control of SARS Virus Vital: Chinese Premier

Control of the atypical pneumonia virus is a matter of the utmost importance, Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao said Sunday. Effective and powerful measure to prevent the spread of the virus -- known as severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS) -- and immediate treatment to ensure people's health should be guaranteed, he said.

DISCUSSION

CHINESE

SEND TO FRIEND

National Conference on the Control of SARS

Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao Sunday urged intensifying efforts to fight against severe acute respiratory syndrome, or SARS, and to bring it under control.

Speaking at a national conference in Beijing on the control of the epidemic, Wen urged relevant departments to be fully aware of the importance and urgency of the prevention and treatment of the disease, saying it has a bearing on the overall situation of China.

Effective and powerful measure to prevent the spread of the virus -- known as severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS) -- and immediate treatment to ensure people's health should be guaranteed, he said.

Much progress has been made in combating the disease so far, with the epidemic brought under control in some areas, but the overall situation remains grave, Wen said.

He called on the whole nation to work closely together to win the fierce battle against the disease.

Wen said preventing the spread of the disease is the most urgent task and the core of the control work at present. To fulfill this task, prevention and monitoring work must be strengthened so that the disease is spotted, reported, isolated and treated at the earliest possible stage.

He singled out a number of locations, including planes, trains,ships, automobiles and exit and entry ports, as key areas that quarantine work should be enhanced.

Different places should adopt different measures, stressing valuable treatment experience and knowledge should be introduced from places where SARS has been detected to the rest of the country to ensure it remains alert to the disease.

Among his other directions, Wen also urged determining the pathogeny of the disease as soon as possible, beefing up the treatment, establishing a nationwide mechanism to deal with emergencies in the fields of public health and intensifying cooperation and exchanges with international and regional organizations on the treatment of the disease.

Wen said the success of the fight against this disease depends on effective leadership, clearly defined responsibility and concrete work.

He urged governments of all levels to put the control of SARS high on their agenda, with leading officials personally supervising the work and taking overall responsibility for it.

Wen expressed the confidence that with the strong leadership ofthe Communist Party of China Central Committee and the State Council, along with a responsible medical force, the nation will certainly win the battle against the epidemic.

During an inspection tour of South China's Guangdong Province, President Hu Jintao said on Saturday that the central government would fully support Hong Kong and help it win its fight with SARS.

Hu met Tung Chee-hwa, chief executive of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region in Shenzhen, a port city neighbouring Hong Kong, saying the central government attached great importance to the well-being and health of people in Hong Kong, and paid close attention to Hong Kong's efforts to prevent and curb SARS.

On Saturday, Wen also expressed gratitude and appreciation for medical workers involved in treating SARS patients in Beijing.

During a visit to You'an Hospital in Beijing, Wen highly praised medical workers for their selfless dedication and their humanitarian spirit of "healing the wounded and rescuing the dying.''

Talking with hospital staff and experts, Wen urged medical workers to rely on scientific methods in preventing and treating SARS, to probe all sorts of protective measures, to try to find the cause of the disease and to publicize preventive knowledge among people.

The premier expressed hope that health departments and medical workers fully recognize their great responsibility in ensuring people's health and continue their efforts for the prevention and treatment of the disease.

The first SARS patient treated in a hospital in Beijing on March 1 has recovered, Beijing Mayor Meng Xuenong announced over the weekend.

A total of eight SARS patients in Beijing have recovered so far, including one foreigner, a local Beijinger and six transferred from other regions.

The first patient in Beijing is a 26-year-old native of Shanxi Province in North China. She was doing garment business in Guangdong Province before coming to Beijing. Several members of her family have also been infected with the disease.

The woman and some of her family members have recovered and will leave hospital soon, but her parents died of SARS due to their advanced age.

The number of suspected SARS patients taken by local hospitals is decreasing and the situation in Beijing has been basically brought under control, Meng said at the weekend.

Hospitals in Beijing have taken active measures to treat confirmed SARS patients and opened special wards to separate suspected patients from others, Meng said.

None of the medical workers in the You'an Hospital, a major hospital for treating SARS patients in Beijing, has been found to have been infected by the disease.

Physicians in South China's Guangdong Province have found evidence of the coronavirus in the specimen samples of SARS patients.

"It marks a breakthrough in Guangdong's search for the cause of the SARS epidemic," said an official of the Guangdong Disease Prevention and Control Centre over the weekend.

The coronavirus, named for its crown-like appearance in electron microscope imagery, is widely believed to be the possible cause of SARS.

The medical experiment is still going on.

Questions?Comments? Click here

Central Gov't Fully Supports SARS Control Efforts in HK: Hu Jintao

Chinese Premier visits SARS medical staff

>> Full Coverage

China Has not Provided Weapons to Iraq Since 1990 ( 2 Messages)

SARS May not Originate from China: WHO Official ( 10 Messages)

HK Star Leslie Cheung Commits Suicide ( 41 Messages)

The War to Topple Saddam Is a Burden on the Americans ( 13 Messages)

Who Are the Real Criminals? ( 28 Messages)