Sars: Violators will be shot
2003-05-15 18:44
Beijing - China upped the stakes in the fight against Sars on Thursday, threatening to execute or jail for life anyone who violates quarantine restrictions and spreads the disease.
The interpretation of the country's infectious diseases law, issued by the Supreme People's Court and the Supreme People's Procuratorate, went into effect on May 13, but was publicised in full in Thursday's Legal Daily.
"Intentionally spreading sudden contagious disease pathogens that endangers public security or leads to serious personal injury, death or heavy loss of public or private property will be punishable by 10 years to life imprisonment or the death penalty," Xinhua news agency said of the ruling.
The World Health Organisation immediately expressed concern that the draconian law could be counterproductive as it would deter possible Sars patients from going to hospital.
"There is a fine balance with this kind of disease where you need to isolate and quarantine patients, but if you are too heavy handed it may end up only stigmatising people," said WHO spokesperson Mangai Balasegaram.
The drastic move came as the epidemic showed further signs of abating with the lowest reported number of new cases since the government ended a nearly five-month attempt at covering up the crisis on April 20.
Mass public campaign
Four new deaths and 52 new cases took the cumulative nationwide tallies to 271 and 5 163 respectively.
Beijing, the worst hit city in the world, also recorded its lowest number of cases (27) since April 20, to take its total to 2 388 and 140 dead.
With the economy taking a beating from Sars, the government has embarked on a mass public campaign aimed at eradicating a disease that originated in southern Guangdong province in November.
The threat of death or jail appears to be part of those measures and came as government officials voiced confidence they could keep the disease from spreading to the vast countryside.
"The potential risk and transmission routes for Sars spreading to rural areas clearly exist," said Liu Jian, head of the task force of rural affairs for the National Sars Prevention and Control Headquarters.
"However we have taken various and vigorous measures to prevent Sars spreading into the countryside."
China liberally uses the death penalty, executing more people each year than the rest of the world combined, according to Amnesty International.
The new ruling appeared similar to a July 1999 interpretation of China's criminal law, in which the judiciary determined that vague references in the law to "evil cults" formed the legal basis to a nationwide crackdown on the Falungong spiritual group.
Negligent health officials
According to the ruling, people with or suspected of carrying contagious diseases, who refuse medical exams, isolation or treatment and pass on the disease unintentionally can be sentenced from three to seven years.
Negligent health officials found guilty of allowing a disease to spread can be imprisoned for up to three years, it said.
China has already sacked its health minister and the mayor of Beijing, as well as hundreds of other lower level officials for failing to properly address the outbreak or implement preventative measures.
Despite the ruling only taking affect this week, Chinese police have already been busy.
Police in Inner Mongolia last week arrested a man who infected six family members with Sars, including his father who died, for "obstructing the prevention of infectious diseases," after he escaped from quarantine.
The man, Li Song, is believed to be the first formally charged in China for escaping from Sars quarantine, while three men who escaped a Beijing Sars isolation centre were arrested in neighbouring Hebei and returned to hospital after police set up a huge dragnet.
Police have also arrested Internet "rumour-mongers" for spreading false information on Sars, while the state press has been full of stories on police crackdowns and raids on people selling fake or shoddy medicine and medical products.
- AFX