Wednesday, April 30, 2003
 
International
 
Riot in town as SARS tightens China grip
 
Scott Hillis
 
BEIJING, April 29: A riot broke out in a town near Beijing after people learned of a plan to use an abandoned school to quarantine SARS patients, officials said on Tuesday, highlighting public fear as China struggles to check the disease. The riot erupted on Sunday in Chagugang, a township of 32,500 people about 70 km southeast of Beijing, a local government official said.

‘‘The school building was not going to be transformed into a hospital, but a quarantine for people who have been in contact with SARS patients,’’ said the official, who declined to give his name or elaborate on the disturbance. The riot reflects growing unease over SARS, which the government covered up until intense international pressure forced it to admit this month that thousands had been infected.

WHO lifts SARS warning
on travel to Toronto

Geneva: The WHO announced on Tuesday that it would lift from Wednesday its warning against unnecessary travel to Toronto imposed last week amid fears over the spread of the SARS virus. The decision was announced at a news conference by WHO Director-General Gro Harlem Brundtland after talks with Canadian officials.

China quarantines dirty cash
Beijing: Money may be the root of all evil, but China is trying to make sure it won’t be a source of SARS. The Central People’s Bank of China is putting more new cash into circulation and holding used banknotes for 24 hours before putting it back into people’s hands, the People’s Daily said on its website on Tuesday. The daily said some banks were sterilising grimy bills and showering them with ultraviolet radiation to kill the virus. —Reuters

The New York Times quoted Chagugang residents as saying thousands had taken to the streets and the school had been damaged. It said police and paramilitary units had been sent to keep a lid on unrest. It was also the latest sign of an undercurrent of panic in and around Beijing, which has reported nearly 1,200 infections and 59 deaths from Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome.

The WHO said on Monday SARS was still spreading in China, in contrast to other hard-hit areas such as Hong Kong and Singapore that had brought it under control. The WHO also criticised the quality of Beijing’s data, saying it lacked details key to fighting the disease, such as who the new victims were and where they caught it.

The Beijing Health Bureau postponed a SARS news conference at the last minute until Wednesday, and an official reached by telephone declined to respond to the WHO’s criticism.

With several hospitals virtually shut because of outbreaks, and many more converted into SARS-only facilities, Beijing is scrambling to beef up its health system.

In Xiaotangshan, a township an hour’s drive northeast of Beijing, an Army of workers put the finishing touches to a new complex, being built in just six days, for up to 1,000 quarantined SARS suspects. ‘‘We put down this road in three days and three nights, no stop,’’ said a haggard foreman ambling down the tarmac beside the compound, which covers an area the size of a football stadium.

‘‘I haven’t slept for three nights,’’ he said. ‘‘They said it had to get done, so what can you do?’’ About 1,200 medical staff from Army hospitals had been sent to staff it, the website of the Communist Party People’s Daily said.

Students were ordered not to leave campus during the long May Day holiday weekend.

Large gatherings and parties were also banned at schools, the Xinhua news agency said. (Reuters)

 
 

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