The potentially lethal form of pneumonia that has rocked Hong Kong and other parts of the world will be put under the microscope at a high-profile meeting in the special administrative region (SAR).
Officials from the mainland and the SAR will attend the meeting on severe respiratory syndrome (SRS), which has been organized by the World Health Organization (WHO).
SRS has affected some 200 people in Hong Kong - most of whom are health care workers and relatives of pneumonia patients.
Yeoh Eng-kiong, secretary for health, welfare and food of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region, told the media on Saturday that Hong Kong and the mainland had agreed to foster closer ties on information exchange and disease notification on the recent outbreak of SRS.
Efforts will be made to provide as much information as possible about the infectious disease in the mainland through the Ministry of Health in Beijing, he said.
Yeoh said he would also seek to enhance communication with authorities in South China's Guangdong Province.
The WHO has also sent a team of experts to Hong Kong to provide technical assistance to health authorities there.
(Xinhua News Agency March 24, 2003)
