The World Health Organization
on Tuesday removed Beijing from its list of SARS-infected areas and lifted its
travel advisory on the city, saying the risk to travelers visiting Beijing "is
now minimal". Experts say the " double removal" could be interpreted as the
country's victory over the epidemic under China's newly-elected leadership.
The severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS) first broke out in the southern
Chinese province of Guangdong and then rapidly spread to other regions,
including Beijing, Shanxi, and Inner Mongolia. The rapid spread was due in part
to the country's inadequate early warning and control system and to the lack of
knowledge about the mysterious infectious disease.
For China, the SARS epidemic constituted a greater threat than both the Asian
financial crisis of 1997 and the flood disaster of 1998. It was the first major
test that China's new leadership had to cope with, an analyst said.
China's government has adopted a series of measures aimed at combating the
contagious disease, which proved to be quite effective, said a professor from
China's prestigious People's University.
The removal of incompetent officials, the quarantine of large numbers of
suspect and probable SARS patients and the national mobilization to prevent the
spread of the disease to China's vast rural areas were key to curbing mass
infection, the professor told Xinhua.
"Governmental transparency increased, and the people's confidence in winning
the SARS battle was restored", said the professor. (more) nnnn China's new
leadership passes test presented by SARS epidemic: experts (2)
WHO experts have repeatedly praised China's central and local governments for
the cooperation they provided.
C.K.Lee, one of the WHO experts on the joint task force inspecting China's
provinces, told reporters that he appreciated the information shared by his
Chinese colleagues and that he had learned a great deal of important information
that was "pivotal for the study of the contagious disease".
SARS has infected 5,326 people and killed 347 on the Chinese mainland thus
far. In Beijing alone, a total of 2,521 SARS cases and 191 deaths have been
recorded, however, as of Tuesday, no new SARS cases have been reported for 13
consecutive days.
The WHO announced on June 13 that China's northern province of Hebei, Tianjin
Municipality and Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region had been removed from its
"recommendation against non-essential travel to the areas" list.
Gao Qiang, Chinese Vice Minister of Health, stressed at the press conference
during which the WHO announced its decision Tuesday, that the decision is an
indication that China's efforts in fighting SARS have achieved a significant,
but not easy, victory.
"China's efforts in fighting SARS have been recognized by the international
community and by the WHO, and they mark the complete lifting of the travel
advisory to any province or municipality on the Chinese mainland", said Gao.
"If you don't have the experience of living in China, you cannot even imagine
what progress that China has made in the past month. It's a milestone in China's
opening-up process", WHO expert James Maguire said.
