Authorities Monday released details of 10 epidemic control measures now in place in Beijing to combat severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS).
Following are the measures, jointly announced by the Communist Party of China (CPC) Beijing committee and Beijing municipal government:
* Enhance prevention and fully implement control measures.
Good prevention and accurate information is crucial in the fight against SARS. Districts, government agencies and organizations must identify, report, segregate and treat SARS patients as soon as possible.
They must also locate and quarantine people who have had close contact with SARS patients and provide for their basic needs, to curb the transmission of the virus and protect the health of the people.
All necessary precautions should be taken. Public places, public transport and crowded venues where people congregate must be disinfected on a regular basis.
* Take a community-based approach.
The general public must be mobilized to build a network to battle SARS. The sub-district offices, neighborhood and village committees should all play an important role towards this end. Grassroots CPC committees must keep up to date on the latest developments in the epidemic and the mindset of local people to avoid mass panic.
All interior decoration projects must be suspended immediately. Personal hygiene, household and community sanitation must be improved.
* Provide timely information to the public.
Medical institutions should report patient numbers to district or municipal disease control centers.
The Beijing joint working group on SARS will collect and compile the numbers and report the statistics to the Ministry of Health on a daily basis.
The World Health Organization should be given access to the report statistics and involved in exchanges of information and discussion of ways to prevent and treat SARS.
The Beijing joint working group on SARS will hold two press conferences each week to update Chinese and foreign press on the latest developments in the fight against SARS.
* Enhance quarantine measures for travelers by air, train and road.
The Beijing Transportation Commission, Beijing Municipal Health Bureau, Beijing Public Security Bureau, the North China Branch of the Civil Aviation Administration and the Beijing Railway Bureau have organized joint inspection teams for airports, railway stations, long-distance bus terminals and highway checkpoints in Beijing.
Inbound and outbound travelers, as well as those checking in at hotels, are required to fill health declaration forms and have their body temperature taken. Travelers showing symptoms of fever must be sent to the health post and suspected patients will be transferred to the designated hospitals as soon as possible.
* Strengthen prevention measures in schools and kindergartens.
Colleges and universities, vocational and technical schools, primary and secondary schools, kindergartens and nurseries in Beijing must make the health of students their top priority.
Educational institutions must strictly implement prevention measures by taking the temperature of students on a daily basis, disinfecting public places such as classrooms, labs, canteens and dorms, canceling all big lectures and gatherings.
Schools should exercise stricter control on access to their campuses. Students are not allowed to leave Beijing without permission.
* Strengthen controls over migrant workers.
Construction companies, service industries and other organizations in Beijing that employ migrant workers should take part in the anti-SARS campaign. Employers are not allowed to suspend their operation and send migrant workers back home.
The dormitories, canteens and toilets for migrant workers should be regularly disinfected. Accommodation facilities for construction workers should be made less crowded.
Medical expenses incurred by SARS patients will be shouldered by their employers and the government.
* Enhance control measures for large-scale events and at cultural and entertainment facilities.
Organizations in Beijing are not encouraged to have national, cross-provincial or regional events in the immediate future.
Public cultural facilities such as theatres, cinemas, libraries, museums and cultural centers must implement strict disinfection and inspection measures.
* Strengthen control measures for conference, tourism or study tours outside Beijing.
In the period to come, organizations, enterprises and schools in Beijing should not organize trips that take people out of Beijing. Permission should be given by the supervisory authorities if such trips are absolutely necessary.
All travel agencies are required to suspend either domestic or international tourism arrangements for the time being.
* Improve medical treatment with better technology and management.
Medical resources must be integrated. The Beijing Emergency Aid Center must be available to transport or transfer patients to minimize risk of infection. Hospitals that shun their responsibility or refuse to take in SARS patients will be punished.
Beijing should take advantage of its technological strength and research capacity to find the best cure for SARS patients.
* Provide better support for health workers.
The physical and mental well-being of health workers fighting SARS on the fontline should be a priority. Every possible means must be explored to ensure that they have proper rest and nutrition.
(China Daily April 29, 2003)
