Sars still not a threat, but could be spread across country
Beijing (AsiaNews/Agencies) The new outbreak of Sars still does not constitute a serious threat. Still the virus might have been spread by way of train travel, said Shigeru Omi, WHO regional director for the Western Pacific in Manila.
One possible transporter of the disease is a researcher who, after having contracted the virus at Beijing's Institute of Virology, traveled by train across the country. "Due to the long trip he made it's difficult to retrace all the people and places he came into contact with," Shigeru Omi said, while adding that he "still didn't consider the situation to be a serious threat to the health of citizens."
The WHO sustains that "some mistakes" were made in the laboratory's preventative and safety measures, criticizing Chinese authorities who say they don't know if foreign researchers were working at the Institute or whether they are still in the country or not.
Meanwhile, there are now over 600 persons quarantined, 337 of whom are in Beijing and 133 in the southeastern province of Anhui. "For the time being the situation is under control. It is not very likely that there will be new outbreak of a Sars epidemic in Beijing," said Wu Jiang, director of the Department for Infectious Disease Control and Prevention in the Chinese capital.
WHO spokesman, Bob Dietz, announced that 4 UN experts would arrive in China over the next few days to investigate the recent Sars cases.
Chinese authorities fear that a new Sars epidemic will break out during the "Week of Gold", when millions of Chinese will travel across the country during the traditional May 1-7 holiday period. Chinese sources say that from Apr. 28 to May 7 tens of millions of Chinese will travel by train. (MR)
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