The alarm level of Shanghai is raising to the newest level.
Taxi
From yesterday (May 11, 2003), all taxi drivers are required to wear masks. I noticed this at the morning. The taxi driver told us that they will be fined if not wearing masks.
No outside cars – residential garden
From today, the residential garden I live have post the notice that no cars from outside garden are permitted to enter the residential area. It includes taxis.
Temperature
The building I was working in has lined up a 10 meters long table at the lobby. Three ladies were sitting at the table. Anyone entering the building will be required to wear their employee card with pictures. Others will have their temperature taken at the tables.
Universities
There is a strictly seperation in Shanghai Jiao Tong university. Every student have two options: on campus or off campus. If you choose on campus, you cannot step out of the gate of the campus. If you choosed off campus, you can enter the campus and attend classes, but cannot enter the dorm and library. The status cannot be changed if you have made the decision, which means if you choosed off campus, you cannot return to the dorm again.
How local medicial workers handle suspected SARS cases
Here is a group of picture about the whole course of the suspected SARS cases in bus. Since the site is in Chinese, let me explain the pictures.
- A lot of people is gathering around the bus
- An old lady got off.
- The inspector checked the medicine the lady took.
- Keep checking..
- Keep checking..
- The old lady complained about the guy who called 110 (the police hotline) when she kept coughing in the bus.
- The lady was required to take the Shanghai First Aid car and will be sent to hosipital for check.
- …
- Finally, the whole bus of peopel followed the policy to check for SARS.
Thanks Kevin11 to take the pictures and share it.
This is taken from the South China Morning Post this morning.
Latest mainland developments
* Eighty new Sars cases were reported, with 10 more deaths. Beijing accounted for 48 new cases and half of the latest deaths. Officials said migrant workers comprised 10 per cent of cases in the capital. By yesterday morning, China had 5,086 cases.
* The tourist city of Hangzhou quarantined more than 1,700 people after it reported four Sars cases.
* Passenger traffic on mainland airlines fell 25.7 per cent last month, the State Statistical Bureau said.
* The Anti-Chemical Warfare Research Institute of the People’s Liberation Army has developed products including goggles, protective clothing and masks for hospitals and police handling Sars patients.
* Huang Mingda, a doctor at the Chinese Academy of Traditional Chinese Medicine, has proposed that traditional Chinese medicine should become part of comprehensive Sars treatment.
* Moscow’s Sheremetyevo airport became Russia’s only air link with China after the country closed all other major centres.
* German soccer team Bayern Munich cancelled a two-game tour to Beijing and Shanghai in July.
Thanks for your post Caroline. It is good that the number of new cases in Beijing drops today. It may be a good indicator that SARS can be over soon (maybe in two months)
Hope SARS will be over within a month, even tho tihs is kind of daydreaming. Let’s just hope!
Update on SARS Situation in China
(compiled from several sources)
1. BEJING
The number of new cases of SARS reported in Beijing has been falling for several days in a roll. On Wednesday, the city reported 39 new cases and five deaths, bringing the cumulative number of infections to more than 2,300 and total deaths to 139. Quarantine orders on three hospitals and a residential neighborhood have been lifted. So far, 16,197 have been released from quarantine and 8,813 people are still under observation. (RTHK, Foreign Affairs Office)
Last week, WHO extended its travel warnings to include Tianjin, a nearby city that has reported 171 SARS cases, 102 suspected case, and nine deaths as of May 14. Over 2,000 people are in quarantine for having close contact with SARS patients and suspects in the city. (RTHK, Enorth.com)
2. SHANGHAI
Shanghai reported one more confirmed SARS cases last weekend, bringing the number of confirmed SARS cases to seven. One of the confirmed SARS patients is an American. Of the 10 suspected cases, one is Japanese. One of the SARS patients has died. So far, only one death has been reported. (Shanghai Municipal Health Bureau)
Taxicabs drivers are now required to wear gauze masks when working and nearly 50,000 taxicabs are required to be disinfected everyday. In addition, the taxi drivers are required to fill out forms recording the time and place of entry and exit of every passenger. They must then submit the forms to their companies at the conclusion of their work day. (Xinhua)
Shanghai plans to extend its current quarantine and health monitoring measures to include all travellers passing through the city from any of China’s 26 SARS-affected provinces. It was not immediately clear if foreigners would be forced to abide by the same rules, but all travellers will be subject to more stringent health examinations. A mandatory 14-day quarantine for Shanghai residents arriving from the SARS-crisis areas of Guangdong, Shanxi, Inner Mongolia, Beijing and Hong Kong was ordered a week ago. (Shanghai Municipal Health Bureau)
3. NANJING, JIANGSU
In the nearby province of Jiangsu, seven SARS cases and 19 suspected cases have been reported. More than 10,000 people are in quarantine in the provincial capital of Nanjing, which is just 290 km northwest of Shanghai. New anti-SARS measures include putting incoming travellers from SARS-affected areas in quarantine for 15 days. On Monday, local authorities have shut 566 hotels, saunas, hair salons and Internet cafes in a bid to prevent SARS from spreading. (Channel News Asia, China.com.cn)
4. HANGZHOU, ZHEJIANG
More than 1,700 people have been quarantined in Hangzhou where four SARS cases and five suspected cases have been reported. Some 1,200 were put into isolation following the confirmation of three cases of SARS over the past two weeks and another 500 joined them over the weekend. (AFP, China.com.cn)
5. REVISED DEATH RATES
WHO: SARS Death Rate Is About 15 Percent (9 May 2003)
Xinhua, reported by http://www.crienglish.com/
The latest information released by WTO shows the mortality rate of SARS patients could be as high as 14 to 15%, exceeding the previous estimation of 6 to 10 %. The organization says the chances of dying from the disease are closely linked with the patients’age. It puts the morality rate at below 1 percent for those aged 24 or younger, 6 percent for those aged 25 to 44, 15 percent for those 45 to 64 and over 50 percent for people aged 65 or over.
It adds that the risk of death could also be influenced by factors related to the SARS virus, the route of exposure, the dose of virus, individual factors such as age or other illness, and access to prompt medical attention. The final mortality rate will only be clear when the epidemic is over.
6. CA FLIGHT 112
WHO traces possible SARS super-spreader (10 May 2003)
http://www.rthk.org.hk
WHO has identified a 72-year-old Beijing man as a possible SARS super spreader. The UN agency revealed this when giving details of an ill-fated Air China flight from Hong Kong to Beijing. According to the data, the man infected 17-people on the March 15 flight, including nine Hong Kong tourists, a mainland government official and two stewardesses.
He then infected a group of Beijing medical workers as he was transferred to three different hospitals before succumbing to the disease on March the 20th. The data shows the man was infected in early March by his niece who was at the Prince of Wales Hospital in Hong Kong. The two stewardesses later separately returned to their native Inner Mongolia, where they became the source of transmission to more than 280 SARS patients in the northern region.
The mainland official attended a meeting of health officials in Bangkok, and while returning to Beijing, infected Pekka Aro, a Finnish man who became the first foreigner to die of SARS in China.