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SARS: Taiyuan's tale of two
cities
By Miao Ye
GUANGZHOU -
Northern China's Shanxi province, under intense public
pressure, has started to take more active measures to
curb the spread of severe acute respiratory syndrome
(SARS). Citizens have begun to know more about the
epidemic situation. Before that, Asia Times Online
reported (SARS wreaks havoc in Shanxi
province, April 18) that the province was hit hard
by the disease.
According to well-informed
sources, at least three local correspondents have
contracted the virus recently during
interviews.
The province suspended classes in all
primary and high schools of capital Taiyuan for 17 days
starting from this past Monday and admitted that the
already bad situation was getting worse, with 120 SARS
cases as of that day. The province, at the same time,
confirmed the serious situation ATol had reported in
Qingxu, and that the cities of Changzhi, Linfen,
Jinzhong had also seen outbreaks of the illness.
Many people have started to know the seriousness
of the epidemic in Shanxi through news reports. The SARS
situation in Taiyuan is still serious with no
indications of effective control. To make it worse, SARS
is spreading from Taiyuan throughout the province.
Earlier this month when ATol arrived in Shanxi,
it was uncommon to see people wearing surgical masks in
the streets of Taiyuan and restaurants were still
crowded even though the situation at that time was
already very serious. That's because most citizens did
not know the actual situation. However, there has been a
major increase in the number of people wearing facemasks
and restaurants have experienced a sharp and sudden drop
in customers now that the bad situation in Taiyuan has
been made public. A local resident said that previously
the city had few people wearing masks but now surgical
masks have become difficult to obtain.
The
current SARS situation in Taiyuan is still very
threatening and the virus is starting to spread to
schools. Several students in Shanxi University have also
become SARS suspects recently, but to date there are no
indications that the university plans to suspend
classes.
The State Council, China's cabinet, has
accordingly sent an inspection team to Taiyuan to
investigate the local situation.
According to
the Hua Shang Bao (Chinese Commercial News), a local
newspaper in Taiyuan, local authorities have denied that
the whole provincial capital would be quarantined
because of the epidemic. A Taiyuan government official
also urged the residents of Taiyuan to stop the panicked
run on basic necessities and staple goods. These
announcements by the Taiyuan government seem to reflect,
in an oblique way, that the situation in Taiyuan is
indeed very serious.
(©2003 Asia Times Online
Co, Ltd. All rights reserved. Please contact content@atimes.com
for information on our sales and syndication policies.)
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