This is the message at the center of a massive campaign in the largest city in southern China to clean up the environment after public hygiene awareness received a boost during the outbreak of SARS (severe acute respiratory syndrome).

The campaign was launched on May 8. And encouraged by its strong public following, city leaders yesterday thrashed out a further series of measures, urging residents to clean up their neighborhoods, houses, public areas, rural regions and even wash their pets.

The push aims to fortify the city's `victory against the potentially fatal SARS disease and to minimize the transmission of all infectious diseases, Vice-Mayor Xu Ruisheng said yesterday.

The city has not reported any new SARS cases for about 20 days now. However, it does not mean it is free from a recurrence of the outbreak, he said.

The campaign pays close attention to areas neighboring rural belts, as well as building sites, vacant land and wet markets in urban areas.

It highlights categories of concern like household sanitation, pests, waste, dung, medical waste, noise pollution, drainage systems and water pollution.

"The efforts (so far) have paid off and the city has seen a great improvement in its sanitation as a whole," Xu said.

He said the government has opened 11 hot lines for complaints related to sanitary issues, which have received more than 7,000 calls so far, all of which have either been handled or are being dealt with.

The complaints provide grounds for the city to take action, Xu said.

The complaints mainly encompass poor levels of environmental sanitation, litter, the breakdown of drainage systems and some districts notorious for their poor sanitary conditions.

Official sources said more than 3 million citizens have taken part in the campaign and more than 210,400 tons of waste had been collected in the past month. More than 7,200 fines have been issued for littering.

The city has rehabilitated and sterilized about 540,000 meters of drainage systems and improved 150 river branches totaling 680 kilometers in length.

Guangzhou has also demolished 430 shelters and illegal buildings, covering an area of about 113,000 square meters, while fixing over 1,220 work sites.

"The city will focus equal attention on the sustained improvement of the city's sanitation in the future," Xu said.

In the next few months, the city will plant trees and grass in areas where waste had been cleared and shelters and buildings demolished.

(China Daily June 11, 2003)