Railway authorities in China installed thermal scanners at some train stations to check passengers for fevers and keep the disease from spreading over their vast rail networks.
"The infectious outbreak is our call to arms. Time is lives," said a front-page article in the newspaper Beijing Daily.
The number of SARS deaths worldwide rose yesterday to at least 588.
Scientists credited quarantines for breaking the chain of transmission in Hong Kong.
Chinese University of Hong Kong researchers say the territory's SARS outbreak is losing momentum and should dwindle by next month or July and die out no later than October.
But Singapore, which had hoped to deem itself SARS-free as early as this week, may have suffered a setback amid reports of a new possible outbreak at its largest mental health facility, officials said.
The most recent confirmed SARS case in Singapore was on April 27, and the World Health Organization (WHO) had said it would announce the city-state's outbreak was under control if there were no new cases 20 days after the last reported infection.
The WHO lifted its travel warning against Toronto on April 30 after it decided the city's health authorities had contained the disease sufficiently.
More than 7,500 cases of severe acute respiratory syndrome have been reported worldwide.
In addition to the two fatalities, Hong Kong also reported just nine new cases of the disease yesterday. The territory's new cases have been in the single digits for 11 straight days.
In Beijing, the city government said its economic losses were estimated at 450 million yuan (US$54 million) in the first four months of this year, with arrivals of foreign visitors down some 60 percent.
NO HUMAN ERROR: After the incident, the Coast Guard Administration said it would obtain uncrewed aerial vehicles and vessels to boost its detection capacity Authorities would improve border control to prevent unlawful entry into Taiwan’s waters and safeguard national security, the Mainland Affairs Council (MAC) said yesterday after a Chinese man reached the nation’s coast on an inflatable boat, saying he “defected to freedom.” The man was found on a rubber boat when he was about to set foot on Taiwan at the estuary of Houkeng River (後坑溪) near Taiping Borough (太平) in New Taipei City’s Linkou District (林口), authorities said. The Coast Guard Administration’s (CGA) northern branch said it received a report at 6:30am yesterday morning from the New Taipei City Fire Department about a
IN BEIJING’S FAVOR: A China Coast Guard spokesperson said that the Chinese maritime police would continue to carry out law enforcement activities in waters it claims The Philippines withdrew its coast guard vessel from a South China Sea shoal that has recently been at the center of tensions with Beijing. BRP Teresa Magbanua “was compelled to return to port” from Sabina Shoal (Xianbin Shoal, 仙濱暗沙) due to bad weather, depleted supplies and the need to evacuate personnel requiring medical care, the Philippine Coast Guard (PCG) spokesman Jay Tarriela said yesterday in a post on X. The Philippine vessel “will be in tiptop shape to resume her mission” after it has been resupplied and repaired, Philippine Executive Secretary Lucas Bersamin, who heads the nation’s maritime council, said
CHINA POLICY: At the seventh US-EU Dialogue on China, the two sides issued strong support for Taiwan and condemned China’s actions in the South China Sea The US and EU issued a joint statement on Wednesday supporting Taiwan’s international participation, notably omitting the “one China” policy in a departure from previous similar statements, following high-level talks on China and the Indo-Pacific region. The statement also urged China to show restraint in the Taiwan Strait. US Deputy Secretary of State Kurt Campbell and European External Action Service Secretary-General Stefano Sannino cochaired the seventh US-EU Dialogue on China and the sixth US-EU Indo-Pacific Consultations from Monday to Tuesday. Since the Indo-Pacific consultations were launched in 2021, references to the “one China” policy have appeared in every statement apart from the
More than 500 people on Saturday marched in New York in support of Taiwan’s entry to the UN, significantly more people than previous years. The march, coinciding with the ongoing 79th session of the UN General Assembly, comes close on the heels of growing international discourse regarding the meaning of UN Resolution 2758. Resolution 2758, adopted by the UN General Assembly in 1971, recognizes the People’s Republic of China (PRC) as the “only lawful representative of China.” It resulted in the Republic of China (ROC) losing its seat at the UN to the PRC. Taiwan has since been excluded from