Reprieve for Chinese as WHO Move on Warning

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Last updated at: (Beijing Time) Monday, June 16, 2003

Reprieve for Chinese as WHO Move on Warning

Life really can begin to return to normal following the latest decision by the World Health Organization (WHO) to lift its travel advisory to a number of Chinese regions.

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Life really can begin to return to normal following the latest decision by the World Health Organization (WHO) to lift its travel advisory to a number of Chinese regions.

It is also a recognition of the nation's extraordinary measures to combat SARS (severe acute respiratory syndrome) and its remarkable achievements.

The WHO announced on Friday that it was removing travel advisories to North China's Hebei and Shanxi provinces, Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region, and Tianjin, leaving the capital Beijing the only area on the Chinese mainland on the list.

It also struck off Guangdong, Hebei, Hubei, Inner Mongolia, Jilin, Jiangsu, Shaanxi, Shanxi and Tianjin from the list of areas with recent local transmissions.

The move was met more with relief than celebration by the people of North China's Shanxi Province who now hope to resume their normal lives and begin welcoming visitors from home and abroad.

In Taiyuan, the provincial capital, there was noticeably more traffic on the roads and fewer people wearing masks.

But perhaps the most obvious sign that something had changed could be found in the restaurants. Many which had been closed for two months, were once again brimming with diners.

Similar scenes were being repeated in Hohhot, the capital of North China's Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region where customers found themselves having to queue for a table.

The manager of the Jinxing restaurant in the city held an impromptu fireworks display on Saturday, a traditional Chinese way to symbolize the casting out of devils. Jinxing and 1,000 other restaurants in the city had closed for two months as a result of SARS. But there was no holding back the customers when they opened their doors.

But there was a word of warning from the Ministry of Health. There was still a possibility of a "resurgence'' of the disease if vigilance is not maintained, it said in a press release.

"The achievement is hard won and we should stick to the efforts until the final victory,'' it said.

In a related development, the ministry reported no new SARS cases, no new suspected cases and no new deaths from the disease on the Chinese mainland for the 24 hours from 10:00 am June 14 to 10:00 am Sunday.

As of 10:00 am Sunday, the total number of suspected SARS cases on the Chinese mainland was 50 and there were 361 SARS patients hospitalized on the Chinese mainland.

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