Beijing's vice-mayor Zhang Mao said on Friday the measures were necessary to protect the health of these workers, the city's largest floating population, most of who are from rural areas of other provinces.

Currently, Beijing has over 3,600 construction sites, involving some 620,000 rural laborers.

The municipal government has strictly isolated the building sites where SARS cases have already been reported. In other sites, workers' movements have been controlled and strict registration and temperature report systems have also been established.

The government also required improvement in laborers' living conditions. Most of the workers have moved into better premises from the previous work sheds, which were usually crowded and unsanitary.

Though SARS hasn't spread much among the construction sites, more rural laborers and students have returned to Beijing in recent days with the alleviation of the epidemic, adding to the complexity of SARS control work in the capital, Zhang said.

He urged related departments to further strengthen epidemic prevention measures on all building sites to prevent the recurrence of SARS cases.

(Xinhua News Agency May 30, 2003)