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CNN Sunday Morning
Beijing Schools to Remain Closed to Stop Spread of SARS
Aired May 04, 2003 - 11:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
ROBIN MEADE, CNN ANCHOR: On to the fight now against SARS. In Beijing, elementary and middle schools will remain closed for two more weeks to help prevent the spread of that flu-like disease. There are 13 new SARS deaths in east Asia.
Globally, severe acute respiratory syndrome, or SARS, has killed more than 400 people, sickened more than 6,300.
For an update on the hard-hit Asia, CNN's Lisa Rose Weaver is in the Chinese capital, bringing us up to date on that. Lisa.
LISA ROSE WEAVER, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Robin, today Chinese authorities announced 163 new cases of SARS infection. 69 of those are in Beijing. Today's deaths total seven for mainland China, and that brings the Chinese death total from the beginning of this disease to 197 people.
Now, when you consider that China has more than 4,000 of the world's just over 6,000 infections, it is pretty clear that China really remains sort of ground zero for this disease. And northern China, in particular, since it appears to have already peaked in Guangdong province and Hong Kong, in the south. But in China it continues to spread, with more than 100 new cases every day, also indications that it is spreading at a slightly slower rate in northern China, in Shanxi province and inner Mongolia, those are both north of the Chinese capital.
Now, the authorities grapple to contain the disease, there have been some officials consequences. The Xinhua news agency reporting today that ten officials in southern Jiangxi province have been sacked for failure to implement SARS health policies, and five other officials in Anhui province in central China sacked for similar offenses.
This follows revelation more than two weeks ago now, by China's health ministry, that it has failed to keep pace with the disease, and had failed to offer guidance to the public on how to prevent it. As a result of that revelation, both the health minister and one of Beijing's city mayors were sacked. So the concern right now, apart from containing SARS in Beijing, is to prevent it from spreading to the countryside, Robin, because a lot of migrant workers who work in Beijing are leaving and trying to return home. Robin?
MEADE: What a situation. All right. Lisa Rose Weaver, live in Beijing, thank you so much for the update on that.
TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com
Aired May 4, 2003 - 11:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
ROBIN MEADE, CNN ANCHOR: On to the fight now against SARS. In Beijing, elementary and middle schools will remain closed for two more weeks to help prevent the spread of that flu-like disease. There are 13 new SARS deaths in east Asia.
Globally, severe acute respiratory syndrome, or SARS, has killed more than 400 people, sickened more than 6,300.
For an update on the hard-hit Asia, CNN's Lisa Rose Weaver is in the Chinese capital, bringing us up to date on that. Lisa.
LISA ROSE WEAVER, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Robin, today Chinese authorities announced 163 new cases of SARS infection. 69 of those are in Beijing. Today's deaths total seven for mainland China, and that brings the Chinese death total from the beginning of this disease to 197 people.
Now, when you consider that China has more than 4,000 of the world's just over 6,000 infections, it is pretty clear that China really remains sort of ground zero for this disease. And northern China, in particular, since it appears to have already peaked in Guangdong province and Hong Kong, in the south. But in China it continues to spread, with more than 100 new cases every day, also indications that it is spreading at a slightly slower rate in northern China, in Shanxi province and inner Mongolia, those are both north of the Chinese capital.
Now, the authorities grapple to contain the disease, there have been some officials consequences. The Xinhua news agency reporting today that ten officials in southern Jiangxi province have been sacked for failure to implement SARS health policies, and five other officials in Anhui province in central China sacked for similar offenses.
This follows revelation more than two weeks ago now, by China's health ministry, that it has failed to keep pace with the disease, and had failed to offer guidance to the public on how to prevent it. As a result of that revelation, both the health minister and one of Beijing's city mayors were sacked. So the concern right now, apart from containing SARS in Beijing, is to prevent it from spreading to the countryside, Robin, because a lot of migrant workers who work in Beijing are leaving and trying to return home. Robin?
MEADE: What a situation. All right. Lisa Rose Weaver, live in Beijing, thank you so much for the update on that.
TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com
