Beijing Farmers Say 'No' to SARS

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Last updated at: (Beijing Time) Thursday, May 01, 2003

Beijing Farmers Say 'No' to SARS

As Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome (SARS) arouses more and more concern in the urban areas of Beijing, the residents of the capital's rural areas are also taking action to stop the epidemic.

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As Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome (SARS) arouses more and more concern in the urban areas of Beijing, the residents of the capital's rural areas are also taking action to stop the epidemic.

On the road to Baigezhuang Village in Shunyi District, the most conspicuous scenery is all kinds of banners with slogans like "Letus united to fight against SARS".

The village lies at the northeastern part of Beijing with a population of about 300.

Several villagers wearing gauze masks are guarding at the three entrances to the village. And all visitors except local villagers must register before they enter the village.

The new policy was carried out one week ago and the visitors also would be taken temperature and those with abnormal temperature would not be allowed to enter, said Xiao Yiting, one of the guards.

In front of Xiao stands a table, on which there is a glass of medical alcohol with three thermometers in it and a register book, which has more than two pages of records.

An anti-SARS team has been set up at the village and the 38 Chinese Communist Party members of the village volunteered to guard in turns at the village entrances 24 hours everyday, said Zhang Yuying, Party secretary of the village.

In accordance with the requirement of the Beijing municipal government, the villagers are taught with knowledge on SARS prevention through broadcasting in the morning and evening twice everyday and two teams go to villagers' houses everyday to make disinfection.

Meanwhile, the thermometers provided by the local government have been dispensed to every family. Farmers are required to take their temperature everyday and any abnormal will reported in time.

"At present, our village has no SARS case," Zhang said.

Li Suqin, a 54-year-old female, is a member of the disinfectionteam and she is another busy worker of the village during the special period of time.

At villager Zhang An's house, she is carefully sprinkling liquid disinfector onto the objects in the rooms with a sprayer. Nothing is missed, even the doorknobs.

She said it is the ninth time for her and her team members to make disinfection at the villagers' homes. And they have used morethan 200 kilogram liquid disinfector.

"I am not afraid of SARS because the government has already taken all kinds of measures against SARS," said Zhang An.

These days, the old man aged more than 70, keeps cleaning his house everyday and often basking bedding in the sunny days.

Now, all the villages in the rural areas of Beijing have set up anti-SARS organizations like those at the Baigezhuang Village.

As one of the measures to cut off the transmission channels for the virus, workers at Beijing's construction sites who are mostly from rural areas are told not to go home.

Meanwhile, the Ministry of Finance and Ministry of Health jointly have issued a notice, requiring that local authorities will pay medical charges for SARS patients from rural areas and impoverished urban families.

No SARS case, probable or suspected, had been reported in the rural area of Beijing as of April 29, Acting Mayor Wang Qishan said Wednesday at a press conference, adding that the municipal government has made plans to deal with possible epidemic outbreak in rural areas.

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