Chinese railway management departments have adopted measures to inspect and strengthen sanitation on the network to prevent the possible spread of Severe Acute Aspiration Syndrome (SARS), the Ministry of Railways announced here Tuesday.
The ministry had set up a monitoring team and trained staff on the prevention of SARS. Inspectors were also sent to travel the Beijing-Guangzhou railways to check the sanitation measures, sources said.
The ministry's branch in south China's Guangdong Province had established a special working team at the beginning of February and allocated funds to purchase medicines and equipment. The health-care workers there took effective measures to counter the disease including disinfecting stations, trains and the employees apartments.
The ministry also reinforced the strategy and arranged prevention measures for the 93rd China Export Commodities Fair, which opened Tuesday in Guangzhou and the upcoming weeklong holiday starting May 1.
No SARS cases had been reported on Chinese trains traveling across borders to countries or regions including Russia and Hong Kong, the source said.
(Xinhua News Agency April 16, 2003)