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The foreign media is creating unnecessary panic about the severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS) epidemic in China with its sensationalist reporting, said Indian Defence Minister George Fernandes Sunday in Shanghai.
Mr Fernandes said he believes there is a "hidden'' agenda behind the "news noise of SARS.''
The visiting defence minister in Shanghai made the remarks in an interview with the Indian media, China News Service reported Sunday.
Mr Fernandes said that Shanghai, for example, had only two confirmed SARS cases among its 17 million residents as of April 24.
Yet in Africa, about 3,000 children died from cholera every day, he said, citing World Health Organization figures.
SARS has been reported on excessively by television, radio and newspapers.
The minister noted that all members of his delegation to China are willing to undergo health checks to show the world that there is no need to panic over SARS in Shanghai.
(China Daily April 28, 2003)
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