Job Discussion Forums

[dan]

id like to hear from some of you currently in CHina about this disease. its getting decent press coverage here in the states considering the iraqi war zeit geist. is the beijing govt treating this in typical deceitful fashion? how are people reacting? i was planning a trip to guanzhou for early summer, but now im not sure

[MyTurnNow]

People here seem nervous but not panicky. I see no reason yet to worry too much...but I am hoping the genius with the unending hacking cough I got stuck on an elevator with this morning just had a bad cold.

The WHO today advised travelers to avoid Hong Kong and all of Guangdong Province. Good advice to follow as long as it's in place.

I have absolutely no way of knowing if the government is honest or not. I doubt if anyone here does. Get on the net and the shortwave and draw your own conclusions on this one.

MT

[Paul G]

Wednesday, April 2, 2003
WHO Team to Visit Hard-Hit Guangdong

BEIJING (AP) - Under escalating global pressure, China agreed Wednesday to let international health investigators visit the place where the mystery illness apparently began - the southern province of Guangdong.

Officials also updated the nation's death toll by a dozen to 46 as they revealed the illness had spread to other regions and sickened far more than they initially reported.

China's move comes after days of criticism over its secretiveness about the disease. Worldwide, at least 78 people have died and more than 2,200 are believed to be sick with severe acute respiratory syndrome, SARS, the World Health Organization said.

There is no medicine to treat the illness, and scientists still have not confirmed which virus causes it. The WHO health investigators believe Guangdong offers valuable clues to the disease.

As China agreed to more openness, the Geneva-based WHO advised travelers not to go to Hong Kong and Guangdong - the first time the agency has issued such an advisory in at least a decade. The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention already recommended postponing nonessential trips to mainland China, Hong Kong, Singapore and Hanoi, Vietnam.

For months after the disease began sickening people in Guangdong in November, China kept the details quiet. On March 16, as the WHO was issuing a global health alert, the China Ministry of Health reported ``the epidemic situation has been controlled and the patients are being cured one by one.''

Initially, the government reported only five deaths and 305 cases. On Wednesday, the number of reported Chinese cases swelled to 1,190.

U.S. Health and Human Services Secretary Tommy Thompson said Tuesday that ``more pressure'' would be applied on China and he hoped to talk with China's health minister soon.

The same day, The Wall Street Journal ran an editorial under the headline, ``Quarantine China,'' and suggested other nations simply should suspend all travel links with China until it provides the truth about its public health.

For weeks, U.N. agency officials have delicately appealed for more cooperation from China, which has a tradition of hiding bad news, even as China's neighbors have complained loudly.

``Because the mainland is not sharing information ... the outbreak has been lengthened,'' Taiwan's Mainland Affairs Council said in a recent report.

Now, a four-member WHO team plans to leave Beijing on Thursday for Guangdong, home to almost half the people who have died from SARS worldwide.

``This is a really unique opportunity for China to find out the origins of the disease, how it spread and how it can be controlled,'' said Dr. Meirion Evans, a Welsh epidemiologist and a member of the multinational team.

Other team members are from the United States, Germany and Bangladesh.

Of the 12 newly disclosed deaths, nine were in Guangdong and the others were in the Guangxi region to its west. WHO officials said the newly reported cases were from February and March, suggesting they did not necessarily signify the outbreak was worsening.

Still, worries grew worldwide as travel advisories sprouted, quarantines were enforced as far away as Singapore and Canada, and cultural practices involving human contact were reviewed. More companies were canceling events, which could take a toll on China's economy.

Sixteen deaths from SARS have been reported in Hong Kong, six in Canada, four each in Vietnam and Singapore and two in Thailand.

Even as they revealed that their outbreak had widened, Chinese officials insisted it was under control - a theme that journalists for the mainland's state-controlled domestic media say they are under orders to promote.

``Since the beginning of March, this disease has been brought under control,'' Health Minister Zhang Wenkang said in an interview on state television.

He said 80 percent of those diagnosed with SARS have recovered.

Intel Corp., the world's biggest computer chipmaker, said it is backing out of important trade shows in China and Taiwan because of SARS. Computer firm Sun Microsystems also announced it was canceling a convention this month in Shanghai due to SARS-related travel advisories.

In Thailand on Wednesday, the government said it would turn back foreigners suspected of having SARS and would force those allowed in from affected countries to wear masks in public.

In the Philippines, which has no confirmed cases, President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo put in place a contingency plan - including air and seaport checks - to prevent an outbreak. She said the problem would be treated on the magnitude of the Iraq war.

Health officials in New Zealand urged indigenous Maori tribesmen to forgo their traditional ``hongi'' nose-rubbing greeting for visiting Chinese at a convention. In Hong Kong, the Roman Catholic Church ordered priests to wear masks during Communion and put wafers in the hands of the faithful rather than directly on the tongue.

[Roger]

The whole damned thing has been around since NOVEMBER, 2002! Read today's FAR EASTERN ECONOMIC REVIEW, and learn how the Chinese mandarins in Peking still manipulate knowledge, sharing only so much, and withholding much more in the interest of local businesses!
Now I remember my school closing for two days months back! Nobody had told me of the severity of the problem. No child has come down with the SARS virus so far, but considering the childish preventive measures - burning tear-inducing sulphur in classrooms and offices with windows closed (to supposedly "kill" the germs in the air!) I am wondering why I don't see empty classrooms!!!
It is a replay of the AIDS tragicomedy - "a foreigners' disease", that only foreigners carry, and that's why the Chinese believe they only have 30'000 AIDS cases whereas WHO officials assume that the number is closer to a million!

[goldstar]

This is an excerpt from an article in today's New York Times:

China Admission Raises Number of Reported Cases of Mystery Illness
By DONALD G. McNEIL Jr. and LAWRENCE K. ALTMAN


The number of reported cases of a mysterious respiratory illness jumped yesterday as China bowed to international pressure and admitted that it had more of them, in more provinces, than it had said before.

It also agreed, for the first time, to let international health investigators visit southern Guangdong Province, where the illness ?severe acute respiratory syndrome, or SARS ?is believed to have sprung up late last year.

Also, for the first time in its 55-year history, the World Health Organization recommended that travelers avoid part of the world because of an infectious disease: in this case, Hong Kong and adjoining Guangdong Province.

There have also been serious outbreaks in Singapore, Vietnam and Canada.

In the United States, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said there were 85 suspect cases in 27 states, the highest number being in California, with 19. Only one was life-threatening, with a patient on a ventilator. Many other patients had already gone home.

"Right now, we aren't planning any quarantining for any categories of individuals," said Dr. Julie L. Gerberding, director of the disease control agency. She also said she saw no need for routinely wearing surgical masks on the street or at work, as has become common in Hong Kong.

China admitted yesterday that it had 1,190 suspect cases, not 806, and 46 deaths instead of the 34 it had previously acknowledged. Cases were reported in Guangxi, Hunan, Sichuan and Shanghai Provinces for the first time.

Foreign and international health authorities have been criticizing China for its secretiveness.

China's health minister, Zhang Wenkang, said yesterday that the disease was "under control," but health officials in other nations disputed that, saying new cases were still being reported last month, contrary to what China previously told the international health agency.

Chinese officials are said to have ordered local reporters to play down reports of the disease, and Tuesday's hourlong morning state news broadcast had no mention of it, the Cox News Service said. As a result, few Chinese know about the illness.

The World Health Organization estimated that the syndrome, which can develop into a fatal pneumonia, had infected more than 2,200 people in 17 countries and killed more than 75.

"It's too soon to tell where all this is going to go," Dr. Gerberding said....
(article continues about SARS in USA).

[Freaky Deaky]

I wonder what effect this could have on Hong Kong's economy? Does anyone think HK will suffer (financially speaking?) or will they just shrug it off?

[Roger]

Of course it hutrts them, and how!
Tourists wisely give this place a miss (and they should continue to do so, in my opinion, even after this calamity is over).
Some flights between HK and other cities have been cancelled due to low interest. Hotel occupancy rates have plummeted to below 80% (in Macau, which is not affected by the disease, the occupancy rate is down to 60%).
Last night, the news had it that the Swiss authorities have banned HK participants from visiting a trade fair - and the HK folks responded with claims for compensation!
Only groceries and supermarkets have been doing a roaring business of late as everybody is stocking up on essentials!
ANd in Guangdong rumours have it that the Canton Trade Fair later this month may not open!

[Freaky Deaky]

Roger - in your opinion - what do you think will happen to flight services between mainland China and the rest of S E Asia? For example, flying to Bali needs a change in HK. Will authorities change all this so that one can fly direct from Shanghai? That given, will it revert back after all this Sars thing is over? Would mainland China want to? Sorry, if I sound like I'm enjoying it, but to me it seems as if this could be one hell of a major kick in the teeth for Hong Kong, much to the benefit of cities like Shanghai and Beijing (or other Chinese cities). The downside is that Shanghai could quickly fill up with all the ex-football hooligan scum that will vacate Hong Kong. Any thoughts?

[TEECHER]

HELLO DAN, I ALSO HAVE CONCERNS WITH S.A.R.S. I DO BELIEVE IT WOULD BE IN YOUR BEST INTERESTS TO GET YOUR INFORMATION FROM INTERNATIONAL ORGANIZATIONS , RATHER THAN FROM CHINESE SOURCES. I SPECIFICALLY CAN RECCOMMEND I.A.M.A.T. . I AM A CANADIAN AND HAVE CONCERNS REGARDING LIVING IN CHINA, RETURNING TO CANADA, AND TRAVEL RESTRICTIONS BOTH NOW AND IN THE NEAR FUTURE. MANY DOCTORS WITHIN THE SCIENTIFIC COMMUNITY ARE CONCERNED WITH THE LACK OF FORTHRIGHT INFORMATION GIVEN ON THE PART OF THE CHINESE GOVERNMENT. THIS IS AN ONGOING PROBLEM . I DOUBT IT WILL CHANGE IN THE FORESEEABLE FUTURE. WHILE OTHER COUNTRIES HAVE ADDRESSED THE PROBLEM OF S.A.R.S. IN AN EDUCATED AND TIMELY MANNER, AS ROGER HAS STATED, THIS PROBLEM HAS BEEN WITH US IN CHINA FOR OVER SIX MONTHS NOW. THERE MAY WELL BE A LOT MORE CASES THAN THE CHINESE AUTHORITIES ARE AWARE OF...OR WILLING TO ADMIT.

[noyb]

I think Roger has a very accurate assessment of the situation.

Things look like they will get at least a little worse both for Hong Kong & the Mainland before they start getting better. So far the most optomistic forcasts have the economic impact on Hong Kong as devestating. I would expect the impact on the Mainland to be much lighter only because of the economic diversity that the Mainland has over Hong Kong.

Will this whole situation benefit Beijing or Shanghai over Hong Kong? In my opinion, that's laughable. But I could be wrong.

[once again]

I notice some very anti HK posts here. Even without SARS, some of the comments seem to be very anti. I am interested just why you think that HK is so bad.