China Steps up Efforts to Curb SARS

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Last updated at: (Beijing Time) Wednesday, April 23, 2003

China Steps up Efforts to Curb SARS

Measures have been tightened across China to control the spread of SARS as the number of cases rises in more areas. The State Council has decided to dispatch the third group of supervision teams to 11 provinces and regions with fewer cases of the disease.

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Xi'an SARS Prevention

Measures have been tightened across China to control the spread of severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS) as the number of cases rises in more areas.

The Information Office of the Ministry of Health announced Tuesday afternoon that up to 21:20 on April 21, the total number of confirmed severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS) cases reported on the Chinese mainland had risen to 2,158, while that of suspected SARS cases was 918.

Of all the confirmed cases, 97 patients had died while 1,213 had been discharged from hospitals after recovery.

In the capital city of Beijing, where 588 cases have been confirmed, the city's top official Tuesday urged an all-out effort to quarantine all potentially affected people.

Shanghai SARS Prevention

Liu Qi, secretary of the Beijing Municipal Committee of the Communist Party of China, Tuesday visited communities and the Central University for Nationalities in Haidian district, where a system of discovery, quarantine and treatment has been established and all 1.74 million residents have been monitored.

In the southern province of Guangdong, where the country's first SARS case was reported, the provincial capital of Guangzhou has set up a monitoring network. Experts from the World Health Organization (WHO) who visited the province early this month said they would introduce the experience to other countries and regions to help them better prevent and treat the flu-like disease.

To help those patients with financial problem, the government of north China's Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region has decided to offer financial help, decreeing that every patient should be admitted to hospital regardless of their financial circumstances.

Education departments in east China's Zhejiang Province and its capital city of Hangzhou have started an emergency scheme in all schools to prevent the outbreak of severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS). The province has found three imported case of the lethal disease.

Jiangsu SARS Prevention

Every school and kindergarten in Hangzhou has established its own SARS prevention and control team, responsible for disinfecting campuses and classrooms, supplying soap and increasing ventilation of classrooms. All schools and kindergartens have started taking temperatures of students twice a day. Any person with a fever is to be hospitalized. If any student is suspected of having SARS, his or her classmates will be disinfected to prevent possible spread of the virus.

Meanwhile, all training sessions in those schools for the public have been required to be suspended in Hangzhou, and school playgrounds and facilities have been closed to neighboring communities.

Universities have also launched similar schemes to ensure the safety and health of students and teachers.

In addition, China has taken measures to prevent price hikes incommodities and services related to SARS prevention. Beijing has issued a circular to set price limits for surgical masks and disinfectant. Medicines believed to be effective for SARS prevention also have price limits.

Guangdong Province has toughened price controls to avoid a second wave of price hikes on medicines and necessities. A price monitoring network has been established including a hotline for residents to report any case of price hikes.

In east China's Zhejiang Province, more than 30,000 inferior surgical masks have been confiscated and several retailers who drove up prices of surgical masks, vinegar and garlic have received penalty.

China steps up SARS supervision in more areas

The Chinese State Council has decided to dispatch the third group of supervision teams to step up efforts to curb severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS) in 11 provinces and regions with fewer cases of the disease.

Addressing the team members on Tuesday, Vice-Premier Wu Yi called for resolute measures to curb the spread of the disease and to have a better understanding of the SARS situation.

Areas with fewer cases must be on high alert and prepared to prevent an outbreak of the disease, said the vice-premier.

The areas the teams will inspect are the provinces of Liaoning,Jilin, Zhejiang, Fujian, Hubei, Hunan, Sichuan, Shaanxi, Gansu, and Chongqing Municipality and Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region.

The central government has sent two groups of supervision teams since mid-April to the areas hit hardest by the disease, including Beijing, south China's Guangdong Province, the central Henan Province, and north China's Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region.

The teams, led by senior officials of departments of the central government and dispatched on Wednesday, consists of medical experts and staff members of the government departments. ��

The vice-premier said the supervision teams should help local authorities set up powerful SARS control task forces in accordance with the arrangements of the central authorities.

The task forces should formulate strategies in case of an outbreak of the disease, improve measures to investigate and follow those who have or are suspected of being infected.

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