Shanghai Notifies Foreigners of SARS Situation

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

Shanghai Notifies Foreigners of SARS Situation

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The Shanghai municipal government Tuesday held a meeting to notify joint ventures, the headquarters of transnational companies and foreign business delegates in Shanghai of the latest situation of severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS).

The government has promised such notification would be held once a week.

Xue Peijian, vice secretary-general of the municipal government, said at the meeting that foreigners were guests and had contributed much to the city's economic and social development. His government was very concerned about SARS prevention among them.

He said health was more important than economic development in Shanghai.

Several hundred foreigners attended Tuesday's meeting and received the "Guide to Prevention of SARS" and a cartoon manual on prevention.

Liu Guohua, vice-director of the Shanghai Health Bureau, told the meeting that the city had increased the SARS hotlines from four to ten on the number 021-52285500.

English and Japanese speaking hotlines would soon be opened around the clock to foreigners, he said.

Three hospitals had been designated to provide health care and treatment to foreign SARS patients, he said.

Xue said foreigners were welcomed to visit designated hospitals.

Xue said the city's biggest challenge was to prevent SARS sufferers from entering Shanghai. Flights, trains, ships and buses coming to and leaving Shanghai had started asking passengers to fill out health forms.

The first batch of automatic devices detecting temperature would soon be installed in Shanghai's airports in Hongqiao and Pudong and railway stations, he said.

Toyokazu Machihara, representative of International Business Organization of Osaka, INC. Shanghai Office, told Xinhua after the meeting that the Shanghai government's notification was frank and transparent without avoiding anything.

He said it was very useful for foreigners here to prevent the flu-like disease. He would report to his headquarters in Japan as soon as possible.

The two Japanese and eight Chinese employees working in his office remained working normally, he added.

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