Meanwhile, people nationwide have participated in the fight against the SARS disease by resorting to such means as doing general clean-ups, disinfecting their offices or workshops, wearing gauge masks when walking or doing outdoor activities, cleaning their living quarters with medicinal liquids and isolating a few SARS case suspects.

A large number of shopping centers in the Chinese capital opened their ventilation intakes wider and disinfected air conditioner filters daily so as to let fresh air in unimpeded.

Huge TV screens at the spacious terminal building of Beijing's Capital Airport broadcast regularly the guidelines on how to prevent and control SARS epidemic. And warnings on SARS are also available in both domestic and international passenger areas and the information counters.

Workers and functionaries at the two leading railway stations in the city, the Beijing Railway Station and West Railway Station, were seen distributing pamphlets concerning the information related to SARS prevention and control to passengers arriving and departing in all directions.

All public traffic vehicles, including buses, long-distance buses and taxis in the national capital, have left windows wide open and disinfected the interior everyday.

At the same time, the government of northwest China's Ningxia Hui Autonomous Region has called for a region-wide campaign to check the spread of the SARS disease since its first case was spotted earlier this week.

Hospitals above the county level in Ningxia have designated special quarters for patients with their body temperatures higher than normal. So far, they have received 105 such patients and none has been diagnosed as having SARS.

Twenty-one "checkpoints" have been set up along major highways and railroads and airports across the region to conduct medical examinations of SARS suspects. All motor vehicles in and out of Ningxia have to go through disinfecting procedures.

Moreover, in the capital of Chengdu in southwestern Sichuan province, more than 100 medical workers from 12 medical health centers at the city level have been involved in a publicity drive, distributing 200,000 pamphlets among local residents to acquaint them with the related basics and useful prevention and control methods.

Though Yunnan province in the southwest has so far not spotted any SARS cases, the provincial government has earmarked 2.6 million yuan (about US$310,000) for building a SARS control network to cover all prefectures, counties and townships throughout the province.

As from Apr. 1, SARS control organizations across Yunnan instituted a daily reporting system and formed four emergency teams of medical practitioners to monitor around-the-clock the SARS disease and carry out effective prevention methods.

(Xinhua News Agency April 25, 2003)