Shanghai government published a circular yesterday outlining new restrictions on travelers and quarantine rules as part of the city's battle against SARS.
Beginning yesterday, all local residents returning to the city from places with cases of severe acute respiratory syndrome will be placed under medical observation for two weeks.
Any visitors to the city from areas with SARS cases must undergo a health check and report their health to authorities every day for the first two weeks they are in the city.
The document didn't specify if the rules affected those from all areas with SARS or just places hard-hit by the deadly virus.
The government is expected to provide a more-detailed explanation of the rules, perhaps as early as today.
As of yesterday, 25 provinces and municipalities on China's mainland have reported con-firmed SARS patients. World-wide, 32 countries and regions have reported cases, said the World Health Organization.
The city's centers for disease control and prevention will be charged with enforcing the medical observations with assistance from neighborhood and village committees.
The circular said: "Upon arrival at Shanghai's border, travelers must have their temperatures checked and fill in a health declaration form.
"Any traveler with a fever or other symptoms of SARS will be separated immediately and sent to a nearby hospital for further diagnosis.
"Returning residents - either local citizens, migrant workers or overseas people living in Shanghai - who show no signs of the disease will be placed under quarantine at their residence or a place provided by the community for two weeks."
The circular stipulated that centers for disease control and prevention in the city have to appoint SARS supervisors. The responsibilities of a SARS supervisor include handing out notices for medical observation and detection, checking homes of quarantined people to make sure they are suitable for isolation, supervising the disinfections of quarantine centers and taking the temperature of isolated people twice a day.
The circular also said people visiting or returning to Shanghai have to report to related departments - neighborhood health centers, community committees, village committees or property management firms - within 24 hours of arrival. For those who check into local hotels and hostels, or find accommodation with local families, the accommodation providers have the responsibility to report.
The circular also defined the responsibilities of travelers.
Anyone placed under medical observation must not leave the place they have been quarantined in, nor meet with others, must have their temperature checked twice a day and answer all inquiries from health officials. They must also report to officials if symptoms like fever and coughing arise.
Neighborhood and village committees must provide daily-life basics to people under observation, accept tips on travelers and have the information verified and check on those under observation at least three times a day. The check can be conducted either by phone or in person. If anyone under observation refuses to follow the rules, they have the authority to enforce them.
Neighborhood and village committees must find appropriate places for medical observation for those that don't have a proper place to be quarantined.
Those organizing group tours have to find a place for group isolation and report to the center for disease control and prevention. The organizer should also forbid the isolated group from leaving the designated place or meeting others.
Those visiting Shanghai must take their temperature twice a day, complete health detection forms and itinerary reports every day, answer all questions from health officials and report to authorities when symptoms like fever and coughing arise.
Hotels and hostels must put all guests from SARS-affected regions on specially designated floors, check their identification cards and travel documents, report to supervisors and hand out and collect forms to record health and itineraries on a daily basis.
All construction sites and working units providing dormitories for staff have to report if they receive any one from out of Shanghai.According to the circular, for those who show symptoms of fever and other abnormal physical symptoms, supervisors should notify nearby medical institutions at the earliest possible time to put the patient under clinical supervision.
Medical institutions should check the patients' identification card or social security card and their recent traveling information. All the information should be registered.
The circular also said all district and county governments have to create hot lines and publicize the hot line numbers to accept tips on SARS-related information.
If the information is verified and helps stop the spread of SARS, the information providers will be awarded a prize. Anyone who breaks the rules outlined in the circular will be punished, with serious offenders facing criminal charges.
(eastday.com May 9, 2003)
