New SARS disaster looms in Beijing

Asia Times ^ | 06.03.03

[ken5050]

The women's soccer games have just been move to the US....has anyone seen any speculation as to what is the time line to move the 2008 Olympics out of China?...

[xJones]

Meanwhile, the Chinese government is running ads trying to attract tourists back to Beijing.

[aristeides]

I guess the reports of the end of the epidemic in Peking were premature.

[Enemy Of The State]

You have just hit on the multi-billion dollar question.

Ive been watching on the People's Daily website every day and it seems that the number of new cases of SARS has decreased steadily to the point where there have been none reported as of today.

DOesnt that sound a little fishy considering how badly they are/were affected just recently?

One of my good friends in Beijing commented to me that she does not even believe those figures.

They (Chicom Govt) want this to go away as soon as possible so that it doesnt have any chances of affecting their hosting of the 2008 Olympics.

[ken5050]

The didn't raise any objection to transferring the soccer tourney, and that was billed as an early prelim to show that China could handle a big event...also, the NBA is taking it on the chin..the Yao thing is huge in China...and there are supposed to be some all-star exibitions this sumer..but the pros don't want to go....if there's one more large outbreak..you'll start to see contingency plans discussed.....

[Judith Anne]

This article states that there are 138 people in the SARS clinic at the development who have yet to be registered or examined...So I doubt they are included in China's statistics, which confirms our doubt that they are accurate.

I guess if they don't examine or diagnose them, they aren't really SARS and can be left out of the count.../sarc

[aristeides]

The optimistic side of the story: SARS Outbreaks Eases in Asia, but Stress Level Remains High.

[Enemy Of The State]

Ping!

[Future Useless Eater]

• China's 'official' SARS numbers and their recent 'improvements' are bogus.
• Many areas outside of Beijing had been exploding, Then abruptly stopped ALL REPORTS of NEW 'PROBABLE' cases in most cases about 2 weeks ago.
  Here are some examples...

---

Inner Mongolia (province) - TOTAL 'probable' case count
                                   Jun 01 (284 TOTAL 'probable' cases)
April 28 (114 TOTAL 'probable' cases)
[abrupt change occurred May 10]

---

Guandong (province) - TOTAL 'probable' case count
                                   Jun 01 (1511 TOTAL 'probable' cases)
April 28 (1395 TOTAL 'probable' cases)
[abrupt change occurred May 10]   ...vertical scale = 1350 to 1520

---

Tianjin (municipality) - TOTAL 'probable' case count
                                   Jun 01 (175 TOTAL 'probable' cases)
April 28 (43 TOTAL 'probable' cases)
[abrupt change occurred May 14]

---

Shanxi (province) - TOTAL 'probable' case count
                                   Jun 01 (448 TOTAL 'probable' cases)
April 28 (243 TOTAL 'probable' cases)
[abrupt change about May 14]   ...vertical scale = 200 to 450

---

The only way these skyrocketing graphs could flat-line SO ABRUPTLY is China cheating
on their reporting, and to stop reporting any new SARS cases as 'probable'.

[Prince Charles]

It is obvious that some people have covered up the outbreak, and the situation has not been represented whatsoever in government-issued SARS statistics.

Just as we have suspected.

[per loin]

Anyone tempted to believe the Chicom figures might wish to take a look at this graph which compares the waning of the epidemics in Hong Kong and Beijing.

[Judith Anne]

Thanks for posting. ;-D

[Dog Gone]

It appears that China is anxious to have SARS behind them, and the best way to do that is to ignore new cases. It makes the numbers look good at WHO, and that's all that matters.

I was starting to get a little optimistic about China, but when you see reports like this, it's hard to remain that way.

[Judith Anne]

Neat graph, and thanks for the link. I don't believe it...;-D

[Judith Anne]

I agree. I wonder if anyone in China's health system will be able to speak out honestly...

[per loin]

I remember the Chicoms saying they would have the epidemic "stopped" (or some such term) by the beginning of June. I believe they said this shortly after they admitted that they had an epidemic in Beijing. Anyone have that quote handy?

[CobaltBlue]

Thanks for the charts. I noticed the same thing but did not really think about it critically. Your charts are invaluable.

The reporting makes no sense. They have to be lying, but why? Don't they realize it will just make it worse?

My 70 year old dad "met" a Chinese woman on the Internet and is planning on visiting her. His third wife died and he is lonely. Based on what he sees in the news media, he thinks that the SARS epidemic in China is over. I emailed some articles about Chinese government manipulating the data, but he believes the hype.

[Judith Anne]

I remember the quote very well, so I can confirm that, but I don't know where to find it...

[Judith Anne]

I'm going to go looking around for that article...it may take a while...