China must stay vigilant
2003-05-19 08:40
Beijing - China's health minister Wu Yi has warned of a relapse in the Sars epidemic if the country lowers its guard after a dramatic fall-off in the number of new cases, state press reported on Monday.
"We cannot lower our guards as the epidemic might relapse with even minor oversight," said Wu after meeting in Geneva with World Health Organisation (WHO) chief Gro Harlem Brundtland, the Xinhua news agency said.
Despite the warning, she said that "with more than two months' hard work, the Sars epidemic in China is under control to a certain extent".
The number of new cases in China dropped to 28 as of Sunday, the lowest figure since the ministry for health started to make daily assessments on April 20.
Nineteen of these were in Beijing, also the lowest figure for a single day since April 20 and Jin Shuigao, an expert from the Centre for Disease Control and Prevention of China, predicted that number would drop to less than 10 a day by the end of May, and less than five by about June 10.
Jin said the analysis was based on current figures, but cautioned that since Sars was still not completely understood, uncertainty existed, the Xinhua news agency reported on Monday.
"The decrease in Sars cases would coincide with migrant workers returning to Beijing and students going back to school, so if effective measures were not followed through, the disease could rebound," he warned.
The WHO on Saturday expressed concern that according to its criteria the number of infections in China may have been understated.
"Misdiagnosis of cases could have contributed to the lower numbers of probable cases in recent days," the organisation said in a statement.
"WHO officials fear that patients with milder symptoms of Sars are being excluded as probable cases," it added.
Meanwhile, a three-month-long crackdown on unlicensed buses and other public transport plying China's roads has been ordered to curb the spread of Sars.
Xinhua said unlicensed vehicles had become "a major problem undermining China's fight against Sars, especially in rural areas".
A circular issued on Sunday by the ministry of communications and ministry of public security said "very severe penalties" await rogue operators.
It ordered local public transport departments to adopt stricter disinfection procedures, equip all bus stations with infra-red electronic thermometers and to take the names and addresses of all passengers.
Checks on key roads are also to be tightened, according to the circular, while the media has been ordered to publicise information to encourage passengers to ride in disinfected vehicles.