Last updated at: (Beijing Time) Friday, May 09, 2003
SARS Being Reined in S. China Province
The spread of severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS) in south China's Guangdong Province has gradually been curtailed since the first case was found in the province in mid-November last year.
The spread of severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS) in south China's Guangdong Province has gradually been curtailed since the first case was found in the province in mid-November last year.
Sources from the Guangdong Provincial Health Bureau said that the rate of patients being discharged from hospital upon recovery has risen steadily and now stabilized at around 85 percent. The rates for February, March and April were 51.2 percent, 79 percent and 85.3 percent, respectively.
In the meantime, the mortality rate has been lingering at around 3.5 percent, with no deaths recorded in late April.
In addition, new SARS cases have been decreasing and the rate of medical workers being infected by the epidemic has also been dropping, said the sources.
In February, when the epidemic was at its peak in this southern Chinese province, there was a daily average of 20 new cases, but the number dropped to 12.6 in March and 8.7 in April.
Along with a better understanding of SARS and the implementation of stricter measures to prevent and control the virus, the number of medical workers being infected has been decreasing, according to the sources.
The province has now established a three-level (county-township-village) reporting network for monitoring SARS so that its spread into the province's rural areas could be halted.