G-khan
04-20-2003, 08:33 AM
China has cancelled its week-long May Day holiday, as the health ministry announced a sharp increase in the incidence of the flu-like Sars virus.
China's health minister and Beijing's mayor have been removed from their top Communist Party positions for their failure to cope, it later emerged.
China's official death toll is now 79, with 1,807 confirmed cases of the illness, the health ministry has announced.
Correspondents say it is an embarrassing admission for the authorities, prompted by doctors accusing the government of lying and a demand from the World Health Organisation that China come clean.
Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome is known to have killed more than 200 people worldwide.
Seven more people have died in Hong Kong, the territory announced on Sunday, taking the death toll there to 88. There are also 22 new cases, the government said.
Canada has also announced fresh cases.
Known death toll
Hong Kong: 88
China: 79
Canada: 14
Singapore: 14
Vietnam: 5
Thailand: 2
Malaysia: 1
Q&A: What is Sars?
Are you affected?
The cancellation of China's national "golden week", which was due to start on 1 May, will be seen as significant, because it will mean forfeiting a huge boost in consumer spending.
Tens of millions of Chinese move around the country during the holiday. Students return home, migrant workers go back to their villages and the new middle classes go on tourist trips.
"This year, we will not have the week-long holiday," vice health minister Gao Qiang told reporters, calling the move a "highly rigorous measure".
"This doesn't mean there will be no travelling and tourism going on," he said. "We are just against the massive movement of people."
The education ministry has printed prominent warnings in state media urging students to remain on campus.
There was speculation over the role of Health Minister Zhang Wenkang and Beijing Mayor Meng Xuenong when they failed to appear at Sunday's news conference.
Mr Zhang was removed as chief of the Communist Party branch for the ministry of health, Xinhua news agency later reported.
Mr Meng was sacked as deputy secretary of the Communist Party's Beijing Municipal Committee.
Rural heath fears
Before Sunday's announcement, China's official death toll was 67, with about 1,500 infections - nearly half of the world's total cases.
But the World Health Organization warned the true figure was much higher.
Hong Kong has ordered a huge public clean-up
In recent days, China's Communist leaders have started warning local officals not to try to hide Sars cases. But correspondents say the number of infections in China may never be known.
People in China's poor provinces tend not to visit the doctor because it is too expensive or because there is no doctor. Health experts say the virus may therefore never be fully eradicated.
It is believed to have originated in China's southern Guangdong province in November, and has now spread to at least 13 provinces.
The northern province of Shanxi has 108 cases, while the northern region of Inner Mongolia has 25 cases, according to health ministry figures.
The ministry also announced there were 339 Sars cases in Beijing, with an additional 402 "suspected". It said 18 people had died from the virus in Beijing.
Until Sunday, the authorities had admitted to just 44 cases in Beijing with four deaths.
Canada has announced it is closing its largest trauma unit for at least 10 days after four new cases of suspected Sars were discovered among health staff. A 14th Canadian died from the virus on Friday.
This weekend, the Hong Kong government has urged all its citizens to take part in a massive clean-up, including cleansing and disinfecting streets, parks, shops, restaurants and homes.
China's health minister and Beijing's mayor have been removed from their top Communist Party positions for their failure to cope, it later emerged.
China's official death toll is now 79, with 1,807 confirmed cases of the illness, the health ministry has announced.
Correspondents say it is an embarrassing admission for the authorities, prompted by doctors accusing the government of lying and a demand from the World Health Organisation that China come clean.
Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome is known to have killed more than 200 people worldwide.
Seven more people have died in Hong Kong, the territory announced on Sunday, taking the death toll there to 88. There are also 22 new cases, the government said.
Canada has also announced fresh cases.
Known death toll
Hong Kong: 88
China: 79
Canada: 14
Singapore: 14
Vietnam: 5
Thailand: 2
Malaysia: 1
Q&A: What is Sars?
Are you affected?
The cancellation of China's national "golden week", which was due to start on 1 May, will be seen as significant, because it will mean forfeiting a huge boost in consumer spending.
Tens of millions of Chinese move around the country during the holiday. Students return home, migrant workers go back to their villages and the new middle classes go on tourist trips.
"This year, we will not have the week-long holiday," vice health minister Gao Qiang told reporters, calling the move a "highly rigorous measure".
"This doesn't mean there will be no travelling and tourism going on," he said. "We are just against the massive movement of people."
The education ministry has printed prominent warnings in state media urging students to remain on campus.
There was speculation over the role of Health Minister Zhang Wenkang and Beijing Mayor Meng Xuenong when they failed to appear at Sunday's news conference.
Mr Zhang was removed as chief of the Communist Party branch for the ministry of health, Xinhua news agency later reported.
Mr Meng was sacked as deputy secretary of the Communist Party's Beijing Municipal Committee.
Rural heath fears
Before Sunday's announcement, China's official death toll was 67, with about 1,500 infections - nearly half of the world's total cases.
But the World Health Organization warned the true figure was much higher.
Hong Kong has ordered a huge public clean-up
In recent days, China's Communist leaders have started warning local officals not to try to hide Sars cases. But correspondents say the number of infections in China may never be known.
People in China's poor provinces tend not to visit the doctor because it is too expensive or because there is no doctor. Health experts say the virus may therefore never be fully eradicated.
It is believed to have originated in China's southern Guangdong province in November, and has now spread to at least 13 provinces.
The northern province of Shanxi has 108 cases, while the northern region of Inner Mongolia has 25 cases, according to health ministry figures.
The ministry also announced there were 339 Sars cases in Beijing, with an additional 402 "suspected". It said 18 people had died from the virus in Beijing.
Until Sunday, the authorities had admitted to just 44 cases in Beijing with four deaths.
Canada has announced it is closing its largest trauma unit for at least 10 days after four new cases of suspected Sars were discovered among health staff. A 14th Canadian died from the virus on Friday.
This weekend, the Hong Kong government has urged all its citizens to take part in a massive clean-up, including cleansing and disinfecting streets, parks, shops, restaurants and homes.