The Chinese mainland reported three new SARS cases between 10:00
a.m. May 28 and 10:00 a.m. May 29, all in Beijing. There were two
new deaths, one in Beijing and one in Hebei Province.
The cluster of figures hit an all-time low of new cases since the
country started reporting daily on April 20. It was the fourth day
in a row that China's mainland reported a single-digit increase in
cumulative SARS cases.
On
Wednesday, visiting Chinese President Hu Jintao said when
addressing the Moscow State Institute of International Relations
that the arduous efforts by the Chinese government had achieved
notable gains in the war on SARS. China would continue to cooperate
with the international community and contribute to final conquest
over the disease, he said.
Amid a steady decline in SARS cases, the combat against SARS in
rural areas is becoming more and more important. Seeking to step up
efforts to fight SARS in the countryside, the Ministry of Health
and the other five central government departments jointly issued
guidelines requiring governments at all levels to enhance
leadership and strengthen SARS education.
The guidelines urged local governments to use every effort to stop
the disease from spreading in rural areas and demanded all peasants
infected with the SARS virus be treated freely.
In
Hebei Province, vice governor Cai Limin said that the biggest
challenge was posed by the 1.2-million-strong migrant workers who
returned home. The overall measures taken by the provincial
government had been effective so far, but there was no reason to
relax vigilance.
Cai said local governments had organized villagers to help workers'
families with their harvest to persuade migrant workers not to
return for summer harvest.
On
an inspection tour of western Beijing, Liu Qi, secretary of the
Beijing Municipal Committee of the Communist Party of China, said
that the fight against SARS in the capital city had entered the
final critical stage. Since there were increasing social and
economic activities with each passing day, he warned against any
relaxation among officials.
Crowds of migrant workers and students are thronging back to
Beijing by rail. In a bid to guard against the spread of SARS by
the floating population, more than 100 inspectors have been posted
around Beijing West Railway Station to step up monitoring.
Meanwhile, railway station management has decided not to use
central air-conditioner within the station and its neighboring
areas for fear of cross infection of SARS.
The latest report by the Beijing Economic and Social Development
Research Institution predicted that the SARS epidemic might be
brought under control by mid-June.
In
Shanghai, the SARS epidemic spelt a blow to the city's taxi
industry. To help minimize the economic loss of 100 thousand cab
drivers, the Shanghai municipal government adopted a policy to
subsidize the hard-hit industry on Wednesday.
A
recent poll by Shanghai's commercial information center showed that
as SARS fears had eased, customers in the city have gradually
returned to normal consumption with guarded optimism.
(Xinhua News Agency May 29, 2003)