Posted on 01/18/2004 5:48:16 PM PST by Flavius
BEIJING (Reuters) - China has won the battle against SARS, Premier Wen Jiabao said on Sunday, as the focus on preventing the spread of the deadly virus turned to Beijing and the north ahead of the Lunar New Year holiday.
Wen, speaking at the third plenary meeting of the State Council, said China had made advances in reforms and opening up the country in the last year, as well as in the fight against SARS.
"Wen delivered a speech to the meeting, saying that the Chinese people won the severe fight against the Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome (SARS)," Xinhua news agency said.
China has confirmed three SARS cases in the southern province of Guangdong -- two have since recovered and one is in stable condition in hospital.
SARS first emerged in Guangdong late in 2002 before being spread by travelers to more than 30 countries, infecting about 8,000 people and killing nearly 800.
Now China is turning its attention to Beijing and the north in fighting the virus as tens of millions of people take to the road for the Lunar New Year holiday.
"The coming period will be critical for China's prevention of the disease and more efforts are needed to closely monitor the epidemic situation," Xinhua quoted Vice Premier Wu Yi as saying in an overnight report.
Authorities would scrutinize travelers in five provincial areas in north China, including Beijing, with a population of 14 million, and the neighboring port of Tianjin, Wu said.
The five regions would "launch proper publicity campaigns" to prevent the disease, it said without elaborating.
China's 1.3 billion people are expected to take about 1.89 billion rail, bus or plane trips during the 40-day peak travel period that began on January 7. The New Year begins on January 22.
Many people head to their home provinces to be with their families. Many newly rich travel abroad, with South Korea, Hong Kong, Macau and Southeast Asian resorts among the most popular destinations. Continued ... 1| 2 Next
(Excerpt) Read more at reuters.com ...
also sorry if reposting, but here it is...
no more sars but we got this wierd bird flu. .. and that will be over soon... then will move to pig fly desease...
and after that chicken pox and after that... we will be victorius...
to funny
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.