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Beijing on high alert over SARS
HONG KONG, China (CNN) -- Beijing's health, quarantine and transport departments are maintaining a level of high alert following the discovery of a new SARS case in Singapore. Travelers arriving in China from Singapore -- as well as Hong Kong and Taipei -- will have to undergo temperature tests and fill out special health forms. A Ministry of Health spokesman said the country had not let up on its precautions against SARS after the World Health Organization lifted its travel advisory against China in early summer. He said if a SARS case were to be detected anywhere in China, the Health Ministry would immediately alert the State Council, or cabinet -- and if the case was confirmed by more testing, quarantine measures would be imposed in the area of origin. Professor Zhong Nanshan, a top epidemiologist in Guangdong Province, said at a SARS conference in Beijing on Tuesday that the Singapore case was a warning signal for the entire world but said a widespread recurrence in China was unlikely. "China has improved infrastructure and precaution measures since the spring, and the chances for a widespread recurrence of SARS in China are not high." The professor added medical research institutes had been working on a SARS vaccine, but it would not be ready until next year at the earliest. Chinese authorities have also denied rumors circulated in the past couple of weeks that a few SARS-like cases had been discovered in China. Hong Kong alertApart from beefing up the health monitoring of incoming passengers in airports and railway stations, Hong Kong authorities have also maintained a high alert in hospitals and schools. Since the Singapore SARS victim is a laboratory assistant, all Hong Kong hospitals and universities have tightened safety precautions in medical and research labs handling SARS and other toxic viruses. Health authorities are also preparing isolation wards with more than 1,000 beds in case SARS were to strike in the winter. It is unlikely, however, that the Hong Kong administration will slacken its ambitious plans to revive the tourism and retail sectors through luring more mainland tourists to the special administrative region. This is despite the fact that the first cases of SARS in Hong Kong, discovered in early March, were the result of transmission from visitors from neighboring Guangdong Province.
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