- BEIJING (Reuters) - Chinese
Health Minister Zhang Wenkang said an outbreak of a deadly flu-like virus
in China was "under effective control" on Wednesday, in a rare
interview on state television.
-
- State television also reported that China's policy-making
State Council, or cabinet, had called on Wednesday for measures to "eliminate
the epidemic situation in a few areas at its roots." The meeting was
chaired by Premier Wen Jiabao.
-
- "Starting in March, the illness has gradually been
brought under effective control," Zhang told China Central Television
(CCTV) in a 20-minute interview on a popular news talk show.
-
- The nationally broadcast pronouncements marked the first
time senior leaders had publicly addressed the outbreak of severe acute
respiratory syndrome (SARS), which has killed at least 63 people -- many
in China -- and infected around 1,900 people worldwide.
-
- China has been criticized for dragging its feet in reporting
new cases and hiding information about the disease from the public.
-
- Zhang said the outbreak may not have originated in the
southern province of Guangdong, although experts widely suspect that it
did. He compared SARS to AIDS there.
-
- "Guangdong province was the first to discover and
the first to report the disease, but we cannot say where in fact the source
of the disease was," Zhang said.
-
- "Right now we do not have reason to say Guangdong
was the source," he said.
-
- "The number of medical workers infected is becoming
smaller and smaller," he added.
-
- Zhang listed symptoms of the disease and preventive measures
people could take. He also said the "path through which the disease
is transmitted" had been found, but did not elaborate.
-
- The State Council had ordered that new SARS cases be
reported to the World Health Organization the establishment of a nationwide
system for efficiently dealing with public medical emergencies, CCTV said.
-
- Copyright © 2003 Reuters Limited. All rights reserved.
Republication or redistribution of Reuters content is expressly prohibited
without the prior written consent of Reuters. Reuters shall not be liable
for any errors or delays in the content, or for any actions taken in reliance
thereon.
|
