In China's rural areas, with the summer harvest period approaching,
many farmers are facing a practical problem - shortage of laborers
in the fields due to the impact on the movement of people because
of
SARS.
Tong Dequ, a farmer living in Gaotun village in Central China's
Henan Province, was becoming desperately worried about the wheat in
his fields.
All his children were working in Guangzhou and were not able to
return home to lend a hand with the harvest.
It
was then that a group of volunteers arrived to help Tong gather in
his wheat, a crop which can count for up to half of his annual
income.
"They arrived just in time," said the old man. "I will tell my
children this good news, and let them be relieved in Guangzhou and
not to come back until SARS (severe acute respiratory sydrome)
disappears."
Tong is one of many whose immediate worries have been similarly
assuaged. In Henan Province, many other farmers whose family
members were either medical workers or suspected SARS cases have
been given a helping hand.
Volunteers have also been equipped with harvesting machines by the
provincial committee of Communist Youth League, which raised
180,000 yuan (US$21,690) to buy 100 machines to help the
volunteers.
Incomplete statistics show that the number of young volunteers
involved in the war against SARS has reached 12 million around the
country so far, reported the Young Volunteers Initiatives Guiding
Centre.
The Chinese mainland reported eight new SARS cases in the 24 hours
to 10 am yesterday. And seven of those were from suspected ones,
the Ministry of Health announced.
Among the new cases, five were in Beijing, one in North China's
Shanxi Province, and two in North China's Inner Mongolia Autonomous
Region.
The country also saw two deaths caused by the disease, bringing the
number of fatalities to 317 as of yesterday, and the total number
of SARS cases to 5,316.
There are still 1,510 suspected cases, and 2,317 SARS patients
receiving medical treatment in hospitals on the Chinese
mainland.
In
Hong Kong, to which the World Health Organization (WHO) has removed
its travel warning, one more confirmed case of SARS was reported
yesterday and that involved a health care worker at the Caritas
Medical Centre, according to health official Margaret Chan.
Meanwhile, the Canadian city of Toronto was back on the map of SARS
trouble spots on Monday after health officials there confirmed
eight new cases.
(Xinhua News Agency May 27, 2003)