CHINA: The Chinese authorities put the country back on high alert yesterday after confirmation of the first fresh case of SARS since last May. Officials in Beijing said people should be "vigilant" but promised that the government's SARS emergency response system was effective and would contain the disease.
In an effort to be seen as totally proactive, the government has ordered thousands of wild animals to be slaughtered after tests found a connection between SARS and a corona virus carried by the civet wild cat species. "We will kill all the civet cats in Guangdong free markets, which number about 10,000. We will start a health campaign to kill rats and cockroaches in order to give every place a thorough cleaning for the Lunar New Year," Guangdong health bureau official Feng Liuxiang told state media.
But World Health Organisation officials however said the cull wasn't yet necessary and said there was no need for any travel restrictions on Guangdong province. Wild animals, including rats, are popular delicacies in southern Chinese provinces and government efforts to stamp out the trade after the last outbreak of SARS proved largely unsuccessful. Civet cats and dozens of other wild animal species were on sale in large numbers in markets in Guangdong and neighbouring Fujian province in markets visited by The Irish Times this winter.
Travel plans for the Chinese lunar new year festival which begins on January 22nd could be thrown into disarray if more cases of SARS are reported. The annual week-long festival is a huge earner across China and southern Asia.
Rumours and counter-rumours abounded in Beijing already yesterday after a report claimed a waitress in Guangzhou Number 1 Hospital was being treated as a second SARS suspect case. City authorities said she was suffering from a fever related to pneumonia only.
Commuters at Jianguomen subway station in Beijing chattered anxiously about the latest announcement as newspaper hawkers called out the headlines from the evening newspapers. "People don't really trust what the government says," said Wang Tong, a real estate agent. "If SARS comes back we could lose an awful lot. "
In contrast to its effort to cover-up the emergence of SARS last year, Beijing authorities quickly confirmed the case after the results of tests done in Hong Kong at the weekend.