beijingSARSfever- archives

Tuesday 25 June 2003

0 new infections (Total: 2521 + 2 suspected cases) 0 new deaths (Total: 191) 55 ward cases in hospital - Official Mortality Rate: 7.6%
The WHO said on Tuesday it had lifted its warning on travel to the Chinese capital Beijing, the only place remaining on its SARS blacklist. The United Nations health agency also took Beijing, once the most SARS affected city in the world, off its list of areas where the respiratory disease was continuing to spread. The decision leaves only Taiwan and Toronto as places where the WHO fears continuing contagion. (Reuters)
In Beijing, Lufthansa, United and other major international airlines said they are gradually restoring flights that were cut during the peak of the SARS epidemic as passenger numbers start to rise. (AFX Asia)

Saturday 21 June 2003

0 new infections (Total: 2521 + 2 suspected cases) 0 new deaths (Total: 191) 101 ward cases in hospital - Official Mortality Rate: 7.6%
China's largest designated SARS hospital has closed yesterday discharging its final patients. It was China's purpose-built SARS hospital - erected on the outskirts of Beijing in less than two weeks. In 51 days it admitted 680 patients. (ABC News). After being released, the last patients received flowers from hospital workers and were stopped repeatedly over half an hour to receive bags of fruit or pose for photos with some of the 150 nurses and doctors who saw them off. (SCMP)
Swimmers splashed back into the water yesterday as the first 13 of Beijing's public pools reopened with new anti-Sars measures after a two-month forced closure. (SCMP)
The Chinese government, apparently fearing the kind of aggressive reporting that took place during the SARS epidemic and other recent scandals, has launched a media crackdown, closing one newspaper and ordering all publications to stop reporting on sensitive topics. The crackdown ends a period of relative openness for the tightly controlled news media. Beijing New Times was shut two weeks ago after it published a list of the seven "most nauseating things" in China, a cutting parody of the Communist system. The article criticized the rubber-stamp National People's Congress and another consultative body called the Chinese People's Consultative Conference, whose members, the report said, "are so old they've forgotten their names." The newspapers were forbidden to write stories critical of the Guangdong provincial government's handling of the initial outbreak of SARS. Propaganda officials also banned further reporting on Jiang Yanyong, a whistle-blowing doctor who accused the government of lying about the SARS outbreak. Also censured was a newsmagazine, Sanlian Life Weekly, for publishing a picture of Jiang, the doctor, on its cover with the headline: "Jiang Yanyong: The interests of the people are more important than anything." (The Washington Post)

Wednesday 11 June 2003

1 new infections (Total: 2523 + 257 suspected cases) 0 new deaths (Total: 186) 516 ward cases in hospital - Infection growth rate: 0.0% - Official Mortality Rate: 7.4%
Tourist arrivals in Beijing, the place worst hit by the SARS outbreak, plunged 94% in May from a year earlier to 18,000. (Reuters)
The number of tourists to China slipped 30% in April from a year earlier to 5.65 million due to SARS. (Reuters)
Eight million migrant workers fled the cities for their rural homes when the extent of the outbreak became clear, but they have begun trickling back. (SCMP)

Tuesday 10 June 2003

0 new infections (Total: 2522 + 351 suspected cases) 2 new deaths (Total: 186) 589 ward cases in hospital - Infection growth rate: 0.0% - Official Mortality Rate: 7.4%
Cinemas, theatres and libraries in Beijing were opened on June 3, 2003 because the spreading of the Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome (SARS) in China had been already under control, the Cultural Centre in Beijing said on June 6, 2003. Tennis and badminton complexes were opened on June 7, 2003. Other sport centers are expected to be opened later on, but the swimming pools in Beijing will remain closed for the time being. The Chinese health authorities closed all cinemas, theatres and libraries on April 26, 2003, in order to prevent the spread of the disease. (Dutch News Digest)
The wildlife protection office says it has captured 15 poisonous snakes in recent days in crowded areas of central Beijing. Most of the snakes were from southern China. Officials believe they were abandoned by restaurants that could no longer sell them because of the clampdown following the Sars outbreak. (SCMP)
The WHO's top expert on infectious diseases, a leading skeptic of the dramatic fall in China's reported SARS cases, is scheduled to visit Beijing to see if the drop is real enough to allow a WHO travel ban to be lifted. (The Asian WSJ)
Russia has reopened a major border crossing to northeastern China's Heilongjiang province as SARS recedes. (AFX Asia)

Monday 9 June 2003

0 new infections (Total: 2522 + 451 suspected cases) 0 new deaths (Total: 184) 685 ward cases in hospital - Infection growth rate: 0.0% - Official Mortality Rate: 7.3%
Sunday represented a milestone for Beijing in its fight against SARS as the city recorded zero SARS cases for the first time since the outbreak occurred in March. The reporting of zero SARS cases means that there are no suspect nor probable cases in Beijing. (Xinhua)
China's national library reopened Monday with its books newly sterilized, windows open for ventilation and hundreds of readers lining up to get in after being shut down amid other anti-SARS measures. (DJIN)
It will be lights, cameras, action in the national capital as of tomorrow as the closure of Beijing's cinemas is set to be lifted. (China Daily)
China Southern, China's biggest airline, is so keen to fight Sars that it has promised to award any scientist who discovers a vaccine for the killer virus the honorary title of "Most Respected Passenger" and free flights for life. The airline's zeal is understandable: a senior official on Sunday revealed that the outbreak of severe acute respiratory syndrome had sent passenger numbers plunging 85 per cent in May compared with the same month last year. (FT)
Although a specific cure remains elusive, traditional Chinese medicine has proven quite effective in the fight against the SARS. (Xinhua)
China today issued a new health directive on treating patients with both AIDS and SARS, threatening to prosecute any hospital that refuses to treat such patients. (AFX Asia)

Monday 2 June 2003

Infection growth rate: 0.0% - Official Mortality Rate: 7.2%
The number of people isolated in Beijing for having had close contact with suspected or probable severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS) patients was 2,069 as of 10:00 a.m. Sunday. A total of 29,768 people had been isolated locally, and 27,699 of them had been released from quarantine. (Xinhua)
Most public buildings in Beijing have not used air-conditioning this year. As summer heats up in Beijing, city officials are using the media and a telephone hotline to reassure a sceptical public that air-conditioners do not normally spread Sars. (SCMP)
China plans to resume domestic travel from June and inbound tourism from July. (Xinhua)
China's national entry-exit check points have discovered five SARS patients by taking body temperatures for 12.48 million travelers in April and May. Of those travelers, 3,826 registered abnormal body temperatures and 395 were referred to hospitals for further diagnosis. (Xinhua)
China and the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) yesterday agreed to co-operate more to defeat SARS while ensuring safe and smooth traffic of people and property. A joint action plan they passed in Beijing requires exit-entry travellers to accept temperature screening checks and answer questions if necessary to limit the spread of SARS. The action plan also requires passengers to fill out a health declaration card. (China Daily)

Sunday 1 June 2003

1 new infections (Total: 2522 + 739 suspected cases) 0 new deaths (Total: 181) 739 ward cases in hospital Infection growth rate: 0.0% Official Mortality Rate: 7.2%
The CDC recommends U.S. citizens defer nonessential travel to areas with a large number of SARS cases, including mainland China and Hong Kong.

Saturday 31 May 2003

1 new infections (Total: 2521 + 747 suspected cases) 4 new deaths (Total: 181) 1253 ward cases in hospital Infection growth rate: 0.0% Official Mortality Rate: 7.2%
Beijing is cutting the number of its hospitals set aside to treat SARS from 16 to seven, encouraged by a fall of over 90 percent in newly reported cases since early May. (AP)
China denied that officials tried to conceal the spread of SARS in Beijing, in spite of widespread belief among citizens that authorities were involved in efforts to hide cases. (FT)
China's vice minister of health Gao Qiang Friday denied the government ever covered up the SARS epidemic and said a former vice minister was not sacked for covering up the outbreak. (AFX Asia)
Relaxing SARS-related restrictions, China will allow domestic tourism to resume in June on a limited basis and will begin welcoming group tours from overseas in July. (DJIN)
Shanghai officials said they quarantined nearly 29,000 people in the past two months during the SARS outbreak. (AFX Asia)

Friday 30 May 2003

3 new infections (Total: 2520 + 760 suspected cases) 1 new deaths (Total: 177) 1337 ward cases in hospital Infection growth rate: 0.1% Official Mortality Rate: 7%
For the first time since Beijing began recording high numbers of severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS) cases in April, no new SARS patient was admitted into hospital in the Chinese capital. (Xinhua)
According to the survey, which included 700 respondents in Beijing and other large cities, 44.8 percent of urban dwellers spend more time on outdoor exercise than before the SARS outbreak. According to the survey, 41.8 percent of those who have decided to spend more time becoming fit now exercise outdoors at least five times a week. The most popular form of exercise is badminton, preferred by 46.4 percent of the respondents, followed by jogging, with 34.3 percent. (AFP)
China's State Tourism Administration will lift a ban on travel by Guangdong citizens to Hong Kong from June 1. (Reuters)
Forestry officials in southern China seized pheasants, foxes and other game in raids on wildlife markets under new restrictions meant to control SARS. The China raids came after a World Health Organization scientist said Tuesday that SARS antibodies found in workers who handled game species at a market in southern China backed the theory that the disease jumped from animals to humans. (St. Petersburg Times)

Thursday 29 May 2003

3 new infections (Total: 2517 + 928 suspected cases) 1 new deaths (Total: 176) 1413 ward cases in hospital Infection growth rate: 0.1% Official Mortality Rate: 7%
Official restrictions haven't been lifted, and there is no sign yet when entertainment sites can reopen. Some public schools aren't due to restart classes until July. (DJIN)
New penalties announced Wednesday night by the Beijing Joint Working Group for SARS Prevention and Treatment also include fines for failure to properly disinfect areas where SARS cases have been found. (DJIN)
White-masked young men conduct health checks at entrances to residences and office buildings, some wearing aluminum protective gear resembling space suits. Suburban villages keep outsiders away, and department stores and government office buildings have installed infrared cameras to check visitors for signs of fever. (DJIN)
In Beijing, it is reported that over half of the SARS patients have received treatment that combined both traditional Chinese and Western medicine while the others were treated in Western medicine. The traditional Chinese medicine has proven to be effective in checking fever and alleviating inflammation of the lungs. (Asia Pulse)
China's battle against SARS virus takes on old unsanitary habit of spitting in street, with authorities and volunteers handing out little plastic spit bags in parks and malls. (NYT)
The Chinese mainland reported four new SARS cases between 10:00 a.m. May 27 and 10:00 a.m. May 28, the lowest number since the government started reporting daily on April 20. The figure, which included three new cases in Beijing, also a record low for the capital, represented a continued downward trend of the outbreak in the country. (Asia Pulse)
Sales of health insurance policies in China's big cities have surged since SARS. But as compensation payments have also mounted, the insurance risk has grown and China's fledgling insurance industry is struggling to head off the SARS danger. (Asia Pulse)
Two men from Jiangsu have been imprisoned for storming into a hospital while drunk because they wanted to see what a Sars patient looked like. After barging past security and medical staff, they ran around the corridors of the hospital in search of the Sars ward. When police arrived, Han resisted arrest and attacked one of the policemen, injuring the officer's neck. The pair also damaged a police car and continued to create a disturbance when they were taken to a prison cell. The court jailed Han for six months. (SCMP)

Wednesday 28 May 2003

2 new infections (Total: 2514 + 941 suspected cases) 3 new deaths (Total: 175) 1473 ward cases in hospital Infection growth rate: 0.1% Official Mortality Rate: 7%
Dwindling SARS numbers across Asia fuelled hopes the deadly virus was on the run Monday but optimism was tempered as a clutch of new cases in Canada raised the spectre of a possible global resurgence. (AFP)
China reacted angrily Monday after Taiwan turned down an offer of medical protective gear to help fight the SARS epidemic, blaming the decision on a "tiny group" of separatists on the island. (AFP)

Tuesday 27 May 2003

9 new infections (Total: 2512 + 1005 suspected cases) 4 new deaths (Total: 172) 1512 ward cases in hospital Infection growth rate: 0.3% Official Mortality Rate: 6.8%
Life is gradually returning to normal after the city all but closed down in early May. (FT)
The traffic flow of main roads at peak hours in Beijing increased 10 per cent on average compared with one week ago, a rise which amounts to the drop in percentage of the number of people who think the SARS epidemic here was still "very serious" in a recent survey. The current flow of traffic is only just over half of that in March. (China Daily)
Airlines are restoring flights on the key Beijing-Guangzhou route whose numbers had been slashed by half when government efforts to contain the virus by discouraging travel cut passenger traffic by up to 80% this month. (DJIN)
Hungry tigers and lions have been attacking each other at a Chinese zoo that says it can't afford to feed them due to a slump in visitors amid SARS fears. (AP)
Beijing yesterday expressed regret over Taipei's refusal to accept its donation of medical aid as the mainland's efforts to join forces with the island in fighting SARS suffered another major setback. An unidentified official with the Beijing-based Association for Relations Across the Taiwan Straits (ARATS) accused the Taiwan authorities of politicizing the health issue at the expense of the health and well-being of the people. (China Daily). Taiwan, which has a much more developed medical system, has suggested that the mainland should use the equipment itself. (FT)

Monday 26 May 2003

1589 ward cases in hospital Infection growth rate: 0.2% Official Mortality Rate: 6.7%
Hospitals in Beijing are facing legal action from SARS patients who claim they became infected with the virus after entering medical facilities. (China Daily)
Volunteers and officials in Beijing handed out "spit bags" and tissue packets Sunday, intensifying a public health campaign aimed at preventing the spread of SARS in the world's hardest-hit city, where tens of thousands of people remain under quarantine. (DJIN)
The northwestern Chinese region of Xinjiang is on a frantic search for train passengers who traveled last week with the area's only suspected SARS case. (Xinhua)
The Chinese government is going to turn the heat on bad habits like spitting and children urinating on the streets as it steps up the fight against Sars. Dr Chong Lianjin, president of the Beijing Anyuan Hospital, believes spitting is one of a number of 'bad holdovers of Chinese traditional culture'. According to him, folk wisdom has it that coughing out phlegm, burping, and breaking wind are good for health. And in enclaves of migrants from the countryside, children urinating on the streets are a common sight. (Straits Time)

Saturday 17 May 2003