The World Health Organization's (WHO) recent removal of SARS travel
warnings for Guangdong and Hong Kong has yielded immediate results
for local businesses.
And Friday's dismissal of the warnings has also had a positive
impact on residents.
Despite heavy rainfall at the weekend, many restaurants in
Guangzhou, the capital of Guangdong Province, enjoyed brisk
trade.
According to the manager of the Baiyun Hotel's restaurant, the
daily business volume jumped by about 80 percent on Saturday and
Sunday.
The Guangzhou Friendship Department Store is another outlet
breathing a sigh of relief as the number of visitors at the weekend
doubled compared with previous days.
In
addition to having dinner outside and going shopping, many
residents visited local scenic spots and parks at the weekend.
Guangzhou, the Baiyun Mountain Scenic Spot, Yuexiu Park and other
major attractions all reported more visitors.
Despite the progress made in fighting SARS, Yao Zhibin, the
director of the Guangdong Provincial Health Bureau, said his
province would continue to work hard to prevent SARS from
rebounding.
Guangdong Province has reported no fresh cases in the past seven
days. It has only recorded 11 suspected cases in the past week.
By
10 am yesterday, Guangdong had detected a total of 1,513 SARS
cases. Of them, 57 people had died, but 1,429 had completely
recovered and had been discharged from local hospitals.
Huang Huahua, governor of the southern province, welcomed the WHO's
decision, saying Guangdong would seize the opportunity to
revitalize its tourism, catering and transportation industries.
Tung Chee-hwa, chief executive of the Hong Kong Special
Administrative Region, also welcomed the lifting of the travel
advisories.
On
Saturday, Tung joined crowds of residents shopping and having
afternoon tea to get people used to spending once again.
"Hong Kong had no new SARS cases today," Tung said, adding "we must
remain vigilant."
(Xinhua News Agency May 26, 2003)