According to the regulations and requirements of the Law onPrevention and Control of Contagious Diseases and relevantgovernment documents, the authorities of Beijing Municipality havereleased 10 epidemic control measures to combat severe acuterespiratory syndrome (SARS).
1. Prevention first
All city districts, departments and units must remain on high alertfor detection, reporting, quarantine and treatment of SARSpatients, and fulfill this work as early as possible; carry outinvestigations on contagious diseases; sort out those who had closecontact with SARS patients in time and quarantine them in time soas to cut virus transmission channels, and provide appropriateservices to safeguard them.
Efforts should be made to improve leadership and working mechanismsfor prevention and control, as well as contagious diseaseinvestigation, making sure of sound operations for informationnetworks. Working Regulations on Quarantine Work should be strictlyimplemented in key SARS sites.
Prevention and quarantine knowledge should be made known to allpeople. Prevention measures, like sterilization, have to be carriedout in all public places, traffic vehicles, and populationintensive spots. A strict supervision mechanism on SARS preventionand control should be set up.
2. Combating disease with community effort
Mobilize the strength of all of society; take full advantage ofblocks, communities, residents' and villagers' committees. Partyorganizations and branches, public health service organizations fromcommunities and residents' committees shall have full awareness oflocal disease conditions, and make efforts to appease thepsychology of the people. These community-level organizations shallperform management responsibilities, level by level, dispatchingteams to aid different resident patches, and cadres of theseorganizations shall assure their working objectives, covering allresidents in their communities.
Healthy people shall take prevention measures, receive tests, andreduce their public activity as much as possible. Those who havehad close contact with SARS patients shall receive frequentinvestigation, examination and supervision. All community residentsand villagers have to be equipped with thermometers and their bodytemperature regularly tested; residents' and villagers' committeesshall report every fever case to the upper levels. Every citizenhas the responsibility to report conditions of SARS patients andthose who have had close contact with them. Citizens who live inquarantine zones must follow quarantine measures made by publichealth departments.
Sub-district offices and communities shall sterilize residencebuildings, culture and gyms as well as public health placesregularly. All interior decoration projects must be suspendedimmediately. Personal hygiene, household and community sanitationmust be improved.
3. Epidemic situation known and society's supervisionencouraged
All medical organizations take responsibility for strengthening themonitoring of the epidemic disease, verifying the epidemicsituation promptly and accurately, and reporting exactly how thingsstand to municipal and district centers for disease prevention andcontrol.
The Beijing joint working group on SARS will collect and compilethe numbers and report the statistics to the Ministry of Health ona daily basis. The Ministry of Health in turn briefs the public onthe latest epidemic situation everyday, which will be broadcast bythe local media promptly. Starting April 28, Beijing municipalityis to make known to the public the diagnosed SARS cases, suspectedcases, isolated cases, and SARS quarantines.
The Beijing municipal government and the World Health Organization(WHO) will exchange SARS information, and cooperate completely andproactively to work out measures to prevent and control SARS.Specifically, Beijing will keep WHO updated with the epidemicsituation and brief foreign embassies in Beijing, internationalorganizations and foreign chambers of commerce in written Englishon a daily bases on the newest SARS situation as well as stepstaken by the municipal government in the prevention and cure of theepidemic disease.
The Beijing joint working group on SARS is to hold two pressconferences each week, informing Chinese and foreign media promptlyof the city's SARS situation and related eventualities.
The municipal government welcomes and encourages all circles insociety to supervise the prevention and control of SARS in Beijing,and to put forward all kinds of comments and suggestions onfighting SARS.
4. Travel into and out of Beijing by plane, train or bus subjectto quarantine
The Beijing Transportation Commission, Beijing Municipal HealthBureau, Beijing Public Security Bureau, the North China Branch ofthe Civil Aviation Administration and the Beijing Railway Bureauhave organized joint inspection teams for airports, railwaystations, long-distance bus terminals and highway checkpoints inBeijing.
Inbound and outbound travelers, as well as those checking in athotels, are required to fill health declaration forms and havetheir body temperature taken. Travelers showing symptoms of fevermust be sent to the health post and suspected patients will betransferred to the designated hospitals as soon as possible.
Passengers sharing a cabin or a carriage with the suspected SARSpatient shall be visited by the epidemiological investigation teamand put under steady medical observation. For those who refuse totake their temperatures or to be retained for further examinationsdespite repeated exhortations, the public security agency shallhave to adopt coercive methods as necessary.
5. Strengthen prevention measures in schools andkindergartens
All colleges and universities, vocational and technical schools,primary and secondary schools, as well as kindergartens andnurseries in Beijing should give top priority to student and childhealth and strictly implement relevant prevention regulations bytaking the temperature of the students every day, disinfectingpublic places such as classrooms, laboratories and canteens as wellas dormitories, canceling all concentrated lectures andactivities.
Colleges, universities and private schools should not suspendclasses but properly adjust their teaching plans, forms as well ascourses. Schools should strengthen close administration by strictlycontrolling outsiders entering the schools and asking teachers andstudents to stay at school. Students are not allowed to leaveschool without permission; students who are unhealthy and fromrural, western and infected areas are not allowed to leave theschool. Schools should get the immediate health condition of alltheir students who have left school and bring them into schoolepidemic inspection groups as well as reporting all information.Students who have left school and now ask for returning to thecampus (include Beijing natives) shall be subject to isolationobservation.
6. Strict control measures on migrant workers and constructionsites
The Beijing Construction Committee has built an around the clocksupervision network to inspect construction sites in the city. Thedormitories, canteens and toilets of migrant workers should bedisinfected regularly and their crowded living level should bereduced. Unqualified sites shall suspend work to makeimprovements.
The construction sites shall enforce closed management. If the workand living sites are in different places, the workers should becarried by shuttle bus. Employers are not allowed to send migrantworkers back home. Healthy workers' prevention, quarantines ofworkers who had contact with patients and the infected workers'cure on site should be fulfilled strictly and directly.
The employers should pay the migrant workers full salaries on timeand improve their food and living conditions. Medical expenses forSARS patients will be jointly shouldered by their employers and thegovernment.
7. Enhance control measures for large-scale events and atcultural and entertainment facilities
Cross-province and cross-area large activities and meetingsshouldn't be organized in the Beijing area. Some activities(including performances) which have been arranged should be delayedor canceled. Internet cafes, cyber game rooms and video rooms shallbe closed. The public service culture venues including theaters,cinemas, libraries, museums and culture centers should carry outSARS prevention action. Those which can not reach the epidemicprevention standards shall be closed and rectified. Those public entertainment venues which insist to do business should carry outthe disinfection and check-up measures to prevent SARS, and at thesame time establish a complete system for an epidemic situationreport. Those who cannot reach the epidemic prevention standardsbut still do business will be punished according to the law. Familyculture activities should be promoted. Outdoor culture and sportsactivities which are good for people's health should be organizedproperly.
8. Strengthen control measures for conference, tourism or studytours outside Beijing
Inorder to stop the possible spread of the SARS virus, and preventcross-infection, organizations, enterprises and schools in Beijingshould not organize conferences, tourism or study tours outsideBeijing. Unnecessary official trips should be canceled. Those studytours outside Beijing which have been arranged should be canceledimmediately. Permission should be given by the supervisoryauthorities if such trips are absolutely necessary. The supervisoryauthorities should master and report the situation of the peoplewho have to go outside Beijing in time. Residents are warned not togo to countries around Beijing and take tourism trips during LaborDay holidays. All travel agencies are required to suspend eitherdomestic or international tourism arrangements for the timebeing.
9. Improve medical treatment with better technology andmanagement
All the second-class hospitals and above are to practice "firstdiagnosis responsibility system" so that SARS patients and SARSsuspected patients are safeguarded to receive immediate medicaltreatment. For those SARS patients who need to go hospitals ortransfer, the Beijing Emergency Aid Center should be available atany time so as to minimize risk of infection. In all hospitals itshould be clear that senior medical personnel must be in charge ofthe SARS patients. Any hospitals that shun their responsibility orrefuse to take in SARS patients will be punished.
The experts group should play a full role in the following fields:conducting group consultation for dangerous patients in connectionwith a rewarding system, enhancing research work by integratingmedical resources. Beijing shall integrate all medical resources,choose excellent experts, use the most advanced equipment, use thehighest operation standard to fight SARS, maximize admission andrecovery rates, and reduce death and infection rates of all medicalstaff.
Strictly implement municipal government's social aid mechanismconcerning SARS patients, and give free medical treatment tofarmers infected with the disease; for those SARS patients whoenjoy a minimum living standard guarantee, the medical expenditureswill be paid by the government; for those who have bought medicalinsurance, expenses will be paid by the medicare fund; for thoseurban dwellers who are registered unemployed, their medicalexpenses will be paid by the unemployment insurance fund; for otherSARS victims who indeed have difficulty paying medical fees,hospitals should try their best to treat them, and municipalbudgets will subsidize them according to actual conditions.
10. Give help and support to frontline medical staff
The physical and mental well-being of health workers fighting SARSon the frontline should be a priority. Every possible means must beexplored to ensure that they have proper rest and nutrition.
(China.org.cn April 29, 2003)