China's Ministry of Health (MOH) on Wednesday outlined a contingency plan to enhance national readiness against a possible outbreak of influenza.

The contingency plan outlines the structure of national prevention and enforcement systems, logistics, emergency services and supervision.

MOH urged all localities to draft their own contingency plans in accordance with local conditions.

Four levels of alert -- red, orange, yellow and blue -- will indicate the seriousness of a pandemic outbreak.

The most serious level, "red", will be announced in case of the consistent and rapid spread of a new sub-type flu virus, or if the World Health Organization (WHO) announces the outbreak of a flu pandemic.

Health authorities above county level must mobilize all medical resources and set up temporary clinics in case of a red alert, and the MOH must release daily reports on the surveillance and control of the pandemic to keep the public well informed, according to the plan.

Under the plan, the MOH is responsible for organizing and coordinating epidemic contingency work and, if needed, raising suggestions for establishing a national public health contingency headquarters to the State Council.

Meanwhile, health authorities above the county level should ensure the collection, registration and delivery of flu virus samples for testing, and the National Center for Disease Prevention and Control (CDC) should establish a national system to manage the surveillance information of influenza and avian influenza.

China has a weak base in terms of public health and medical services. The disease surveillance network needs improvement and the production capacity of vaccines and drugs is inadequate, according to the information office of the MOH.

Influenza, an acute respiratory disease caused by the influenza virus, can spread quickly among people, and it can carry a high mortality rate.

There have been four major pandemic flu outbreaks this century alone - from 1918 to 1919 in Spain; 1957 to 1958 in Asia; 1968 to 1969 in Hong Kong; and 1977 in Russia.

WHO has warned against a possible pandemic flu outbreak and has published a guidebook on planning and prevention.

China is traditionally a "petri-dish" for the flu virus. The viruses that led to the last three global influenza pandemics were first found in China. Conversely, China collected about half of the viruses required for flu vaccines released by the WHO after 1988.

(Xinhua News Agency September 29, 2005)