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Situation stabilising: China

By P. S. Suryanarayana

SINGAPORE May 9. China today put out mixed signals of hope and despair in the uphill fight against the Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome (SARS). At one level, the public health authorities in Beijing took the line that the number of incremental cases seemed to be stabilising at a lower level than before. At another level, however, China openly underlined the need to prevent the spread of the disease to the rural areas in epidemic proportions.

The total number of confirmed SARS cases in mainland China stood at 4,805 as of Friday morning, while the death roll was put at 230.

The number of additional cases remained significant. It was against this background that the World Health Organisation's officials began intensive inspections of some pockets of China's countryside. The Chinese Ministry of Communications instructed the traffic authorities across the country to monitor the flow of people and goods in the rural areas with a view to preventing the spread of the disease.

A WHO official called on the Chinese Foreign Minister, Li Zhaoxing, to discuss ways to ease the situation that remained grim on the whole.

The U.S. Secretary of State, Colin Powell, who telephoned his Chinese counterpart, reassured Beijing of America's assistance in the battle against SARS, even as the two discussed the issue of lifting the U.N. sanctions in relation to post-war Iraq and the role that China could continue to play in a diplomatic resolution of the North Korean nuclear-weapons issue.

Japan, too, offered to help Beijing battle the SARS menace, even as Russia closed its border with China over fears of a possible spill-over of the disease.

Meanwhile, the Asian Development once again pruned the economic growth projections for both the SARS-affected countries of North East Asia like China and for South East Asia.

However, the new projections still remained speculative, given the uncertainty of when the SARS epidemic could be brought under control.

While Hong Kong and Taiwan continued to remain bogged down over the SARS crisis, Singapore, another significant SARS-hit country, turned to celebrations over the free trade agreement that the country signed with the U.S.

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