Tung Chee Hwa, chief executive of the Hong Kong Special
Administrative Region, welcomed Friday the World Health
Organization's decision to lift its travel advisory against Hong
Kong.
Speaking at a press conference in Hong Kong, Tung expressed hearty
thanks to all Hong Kong people who have made great efforts during
the two-month struggle against severe acute respiratory syndrome
(SARS).
He
said Hong Kong will make more efforts toward having zero SARS
infections and being removed from the WHO's list of SARS infected
areas as early as possible.
Huang Huahua, governor of China's southern province of Guangdong,
also welcomed the WHO's decision, saying that Guangdong would seize
this opportunity to recover its tourism, catering and
transportation industries.
Top institutions of traditional Chinese medicine in China's
mainland Thursday recommended eight traditional medicines that were
proven to have a "probable effect" on improving the symptoms of
SARS patients.
The recommendation has attracted wide attention from China's Taiwan
province in which the SARS situation still remains
critical.Taiwanese medical experts have expressed hopes of sharing
the precious information and experience of anti-SARS treatment with
their colleagues in the Chinese mainland.
China also attached great importance to providing psychological
assistance to the patients and medical staff in quarantined
zones.
Psychologists in Tianjin Friday moved their offices into the
quarantined zones to offer treatment and assistance to the
patients, as well as to the doctors and nurses.
China discouraged randomly discarding of pets on Saturday. Amid
SARS fears, some residents in Beijing got rid of any pets with
symptoms similar to that of the disease, which has roused public
concern over the homeless animals.
Cai Fuchao, Beijing municipal publicity head, said that to date,no
case of SARS has been reported by vets treating pets in Beijing. He
advised the pet owners to cherish their beloved animals and notto
abandon their love in a casual manner.
SARS has brought many fundamental changes to the lifestyle of
Chinese people. A survey conducted by a Beijing local newspaper
Saturday showed that more than 80 percent of the interviewees
promised they would never spit or litter in public venues
again.
(Xinhua News Agency May 25, 2003)
