Despite recent falls in the numbers of new cases of severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS), China remains on high alert and is striving to curb the spread of the disease.
The Chinese mainland reported 20 new SARS cases and three new deaths from the disease between 10:00 a.m. May 22 and 10:00 a.m. May 23, China's Ministry of Health said Friday.
Yu Zhiran, a psychologist in Beijing, said people should remain cautious when SARS cases decreased sharply. A sudden relaxation might trigger a resurgence of the disease and undermine the previous prevention and control work.
To prevent mass infection among the mobile population, Beijing has issued a circular Friday demanding migrant workers who return to the city report their names and addresses to their residential communities and undergo daily temperature checks for the first week.
The Ministry of Communications has announced that it will launch 5,300 road projects in China's vast rural areas this year, covering 78,000 km. The total investment will be 75 billion yuan (US$9.1 billion), including 39.6 billion yuan this year.
Daily telephone calls to the Beijing Center for Disease Prevention and Control for SARS advice have dropped from about 10,000 on the peak day to 4,000, which is viewed as an indication that public calm and confidence is returning.
The central government decided on Thursday to allocate another 50 million yuan (US$6.25 million) to reinforce the fight against SARS in the northern provinces of Hebei and Shanxi, and in Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region and Tianjin City.
It was the fourth allocation from China's state budget within a month for local anti-SARS operations and the money would be used to cover the medical expenses of rural SARS patients, and urban SARS patients facing financial difficulties.
Leading institutions of traditional Chinese medicine have announced that they have selected eight prepared traditional Chinese medicines, instant herbal mixtures or injections, for the treatment of SARS patients.
The remedies, including "banlangen", or isatis root, are selected by a group of 150 researchers from 30 traditional Chinese medicines already used in hospitals in Guangdong Province and Beijing for their "probable effect" on treating the symptoms of SARS, according to the headquarters in charge of the nation's SARS prevention and control.
(Xinhua News Agency May 24, 2003)
