China's Ministry of Health (MOH) resumed its daily public
reporting on severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS) on the
Chinese mainland on Friday.
A spokesman for the ministry announced that there was no new
clinically confirmed or suspected SARS case in the 24 hours from
10:00 a.m. Sept. 18.
"There is no new SARS case in the Chinese mainland according to
reports from all localities," the spokesman said.
The last two SARS patients on the Chinese mainland were
discharged from hospital on Aug. 16. Since then, there has been no
new case and the MOH suspended daily reporting later.
"China's health system, however, has been maintaining vigilance
against SARS and practicing daily reporting, including zero
reporting," the MOH spokesman said.
The resumption of the daily reporting to the public was in
response to public inquiries on the latest situation, the spokesman
said.
Different areas had also worked out emergency plans to curb SARS
and planned to have emergency drills before Sept. 30.
SARS cases had been reported in 24 provinces, autonomous regions
and municipalities in China since the beginning of 2003. The
accumulative SARS cases totaled 5,327 on the mainland, including
349 deaths, as of Aug. 16.
Henk Bekedam, the World Health Organization (WHO) representative
in China, told Xinhua he was glad to see that the MOH resumed
reporting on SARS to the public on a regular basis.
"We have discussed the issue with the MOH and are glad that they
are informing the public on a regular basis of the country's
surveillance and monitoring system on the SARS epidemic," he
said.
Bob Dietz, spokesman for the WHO in China, said the resumption
of the daily reporting indicated how seriously the Chinese
government was dealing with SARS.
"We rely on China's report," he said.
(Xinhua News Agency September 20, 2003)