Wu made the remarks in a national teleconference on the patriotic public health campaign aimed at pushing forward disease prevention work.

Wu, also the director of the National Committee for the Patriotic Public Health Campaign, noted that the public health campaign is an efficient way for the general public to improve the environment, combat disease and fight unsanitary conditions.

She asked all localities, departments and organizations to give top priority to SARS prevention and treatment work. She appealed to them to educate, organize and encourage the general public in order to create an effective public network for SARS prevention and treatment work with the aim of containing the spread of the disease and curbing the number of new cases.

Wu noted that people affiliated with government departments, armies, schools, organizations, communities and villages should be organized to improve indoor and outdoor sanitation so as to prevent the outbreak and spread of the disease.

Special attention should also be paid to SARS prevention work in western and central China and in rural areas, said Wu, adding that various effective measures must be taken to strictly contain the spread of SARS to western and central China and to rural areas.

Wu Yi stressed that the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China (CPC) and the State Council have attached great importance to the work of SARS prevention and treatment, and have implemented a series of key policies and deployment actions.

She also noted that work requirements have all been clarified and that the implementation of the requirements is now the key issue. Wu urged all grassroots units and all citizens to adopt responsible attitudes with regard to themselves, their families, society and the country.

Wu asked law enforcement departments to strengthen prevention work and to maintain optimal market order. In order to ensure a clear understanding of the facts and to keep social stability, rumors should be unmasked, she said.

The teleconference was presided over by Xu Shaoshi, deputy director of the National Committee for the Patriotic Public Health Campaign, and was attended by leaders of all provincial, regional and municipal governments.

(People's Daily April 25, 2003)