The central government will give full support to Hong Kong and help the city win victory in the fight against the severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS), said Chinese President Hu Jintao Saturday.

During an inspection tour in Guangdong Province, south China, Hu met Tung Chee-hwa, chief executive of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region (HKSAR) in Shenzhen, a port city neighboring Hong Kong.

Hu told Tung that the central government attached great importance to the well-being and health of the people in Hong Kong,and was highly concerned about Hong Kong's efforts to prevent and curb SARS.

After hearing the report of Tung on Hong Kong's social and economic situation and the HKSAR government's major measures to deal with SARS, Hu approved the efforts of the HKSAR government to maintain prosperity and stability in Hong Kong and to treat, prevent and control SARS.

Hu asked Tung to extend his regards to SARS patients in Hong Kong and convey his gratitude to the doctors, government workers and social workers who had contributed to SARS prevention and control.

Hu also hoped that the HKSAR government would give priority to the prevention and control of SARS, mobilizing people from all works of life to effectively prevent the spread of the disease.

The mainland and Hong Kong should join hands to summarize their successful experience and strengthen cooperation in the fight against SARS, said the president.

He expressed his confidence that under the leadership of the HKSAR government, the difficulties brought about by the disease will be overcome with the persisting efforts of the HK people from various circles, and the city will continue its vitality.

Work conference calls new shots on SARS control

The State Council this weekend convened a national work conference in Beijing in a bid to mobilize more resources to fight the deadly SARS virus. Premier Wen Jiabao said the whole country should be put on high alert given the complexity of the issue and urgent need to deal with the epidemic. The Chinese premier has called for utmost efforts to keep social development well on track in face of the difficulties.

During a keynote speech, the Chinese premier called for calm, decisive and more scientific research to fight the deadly epidemic. Wen Jiabao noted that the country's social and economic outlook is promising but said that the central government was alert to the possible consequences of the SARS epidemic.

He warned that nobody should take chances in dealing with the epidemic as the control and future prevention of the disease are important to China's interests. He said that the response to SARS could influence the international community's wider perception of China.

He urged the whole country to mobilize to fight the virus and listed six priorities for future SARS-related work. They included disease control, prevention, medical research, timely treatment, national contingency planning and international cooperation.

Premier Wen Jiabao also said that good leadership and cooperation between the relevant government agencies was essential to the fight against the SARS virus.

Health officials from Guangdong province, which has reported the most SARS cases in China, and their counterparts from Shanghai briefed the gathering on SARS control and prevention work in their local areas.

Greater efforts urged to identify cause of SARS

The Chinese Ministry of Health urged medical research institutions at the local level to strengthen their efforts on the study of aetiology to identify the real cause of atypical pneumonia, known as SARS. For this purpose, a leading group on the prevention and control of SARS under the ministry has designated a special team to coordinate this national endeavor.

The leading group will coordinate the SARS investigation by aetiology research institutions at various levels in the light of overall national research needs and the progress of related nationwide work, as well as the competence of the individual institutions.

These institutions will report their research results to the leading group, which will be the only body in the country authorized to publicize relevant results.

So far, the research on the cause of SARS in China has achieved phased progress and helped a lot with the prevention and control of the disease.

In a further effort to prevent and control SARS, China has officially listed SARS as a major contagious disease. The Ministry of Health has recently urged local governments to monitor and report SARS cases, and conducted isolated treatment of patients in a timely manner.

According to a report by the World Health Organization, so far, there has still not been any conclusive evidence found that proves that the newly discovered coronavirus is the actual cause of the contagious disease.

(People's Daily April 14, 2003)