SARs
As reported by the Epoch Times from China, the army blocked villages with SARS in Guangdong, Sichuan and three provinces in Northeast China. The means that army used to quarantine villages were to first cut telephone lines, prohibit anyone from leaving and blocking the news.
One possible explanation for the sudden drop in the number of SARS cases
would be if China had classified a case as suspect that other countries
considered probable. Only probable cases are reported to the WHO.
China has been slowly winning its battle against severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS). Or has it? A doctor from the interior of China who asked his name to be withheld recently told Asia Times Online, “Starting at the middle of May, the SARS statistics issued by China should not be believed.”
The stark fact is that the blackout was carried out on orders from the very
top for a clearly political purpose. In such a system, the one at the very top could pursue his personal interests at the expense of people’s lives and health.
Other “Cultural Revolution-like” campaigns have included the 1999 effort to
eradicate the banned spiritual group the Falungong.
Increased communication among the 27 countries dealing with SARS has been a
key factor in controlling the disease’s spread, David Heymann, director for
communicable diseases at WHO, “China, so far,” he said, “has not been very helpful.”
Recently, many foreign media have attacked the Party for covering up the SARS situation and they stated that the Chinese officials’ lies “will cost the world many lives and heavy economic loss.”
The value of deals at China’s top trade fair slumped to a quarter of previous levels — the worst showing in 15 years — state media said on Wednesday, in the latest sign that SARS is hitting Asia’s fastest growing economy.
Many people have died of SARS simply because China is not free, and
educated
Chinese today will be brooding about that.
Sources tell TIME that before the WHO team arrived at the hospital, 31 coughing, shivering staff members who had caught SARS from patients were hastily loaded into ambulances and driven around until the investigators left.
