Beijing quarantines 8 000

2003-04-27 16:15

Beijing - China's capital has quarantined nearly 8 000 people who have had close contact with others who may be infected with severe acute respiratory syndrome (Sars), Beijing health officials said on Sunday.

Mass quarantine has been ordered in at least five areas of the city, including student dormitories at three campuses, a hospital dormitory and a construction site, the state-run China News Service quoted the city's Sars control unit as saying.

A total of 7 672 people had been isolated by Sunday morning, with 1 384 already released from quarantine, the agency said.

Quarantine regulations, adopted last Wednesday, are in use at 128 city hospitals, including the whole of 24 Sars-designated and one general hospital, plus isolation wings or wards of 103 others.

Three student dormitory blocks at the Northern Communications University, two suburban residential buildings at Beijing Science and Techonology Institute, and a tower block at the Central Finance and Economics University were quarantined, it said.

The figures are believed to include hospital staff and patients, plus students and other residents under home quarantine.

New Beijing mayor Wang Qishan on Saturday warned people not to assume that everyone quarantined could be infected with Sars, the agency said.

Beijing recorded 126 more probable Sars cases and eight deaths on Sunday. The Chinese capital has now reported 1 114 probable cases, with 56 deaths and 1 200 suspected cases.

The crisis-hit city has ordered the closure of all public entertainment venues from Sunday in a bid to halt the spread of the disease.

But United Nations health experts said they had little idea of when or where most of Beijing's Sars cases have occurred.

China is slowing international understanding of Sars by continuing to give the "bare minimum" of data, World Health Organisation medical expert Jeffrey McFarland said.

"It's a missed opportunity for the world to understand Sars more completely and faster," McFarland said.

At least 187 medical workers in Beijing have probable Sars infections, the health ministry said on Sunday.

Suspected Sars cases have been reported at several other Beijing campuses, including the prestigious Beijing, People's and Qinghua universities.

The city government has banned most travel by students during the May Day holiday next week.

Sars has killed some 300 people and infected 5 000 worldwide, according to WHO figures, including 131 deaths and 2 914 infections in China.

- SAPA