Employers are forbidden to sack any worker who is put in quarantine to prevent the spread of severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS), a local Communist Party of China (CPC) official has warned.
Wang Guoping, secretary of the Hangzhou municipal committee of the CPC, told a meeting of the city's leading group on fighting SARS that all those in isolation should be considered as working for the public good.
Since April 20, when three SARS cases were identified in this provincial capital of Zhejiang Province, east China, 166 isolation spots have been set up around the town, where police officers, medical experts and community workers are staying with over 1,000 residents.
However, some isolated people feared they would be fired by their employers if they failed to go to work, said Wang.
The official thanked these isolated people for their sacrifices in the battle against the disease.
(Xinhua News Agency April 28, 2003)
