Wang Qishan said he has been working as acting mayor of Beijing for ten days up to yesterday. The Chinese Central Government decided to set up a Beijing SARS Control Working Group on April 17. On April 20, China sacked and reappointed officials in the Ministry of Health and Beijing Municipal Government. The major task of the Beijing working group concerns three aspects:

First, in order to ensure more efficient work in this severe situation, we have stipulated and issued some detailed policies and measures including Decisions on Prevention and Treatment Work on SARS and its implementation suggestions.

Second, carrying out our work of curing patients at the center and of achieving “two increases and two decreases” as the goal. “Two increases” refers to increasing hospitalization rates and cure rates and “two decreases” refers to reducing the mortality and infection rate among health care workers. The center and goals we have set up for our anti-SARS work demonstrates the SARS situation in Beijing is still severe. Take the goal of increasing hospitalization rate as an example, the reasons for setting up such a goal partly reflects the fact that some SARS patients could not be hospitalized immediately. And the goal of reducing infection rates among health care workers also indicates a severe situation. In such a catastrophic breakout of a highly infectious epidemic, our health care workers have been infected, reflecting the scale and scope of its urgency.

Third, protecting our mass population from SARS. We have been doing a lot to protect Beijing citizens including quarantining some infected areas, and putting people under medical observation for having had close contact with confirmed SARS patients. The goal is to cut off the infection chain to protect the general public. I want to stress that the entire society must be mobilized fully and immediately.

When a reporter asked whether he could promise the accuracy of the statistics reported every day, he responded, “I'm accountable for saying that the statistics are all accurate since I took my post. To speak frankly, before that some statistics were not accurate because of the difference of the statistical standards. Because Beijing is the capital of China, it’s not possible to have broad access across the central, military and armed police’s medical systems. The Central Government decided to set up Beijing's SARS Control Working Group on April 17, one of the main intentions being to report information accurately. Beijing Municipal Party Committee and Beijing Municipal Government made rigorous requests for the accuracy of the statistics. Those who cheat will be severely punished. The statistics which Beijing reported to the central government are signed by Liu Qi and me.”

A reporter asked: “Now that a 700-bed designated hospital has been built in Xiaotangshan, my questions are: what’s the reason of selecting this place? What are the standards and other specifics for the disposal of waste? And is the staff of the environment departments staying there to supervise?”

Wang Qishan answers: “We have considered all things and made appropriate arrangements on the construction of Xiaotangshan SARS hospital, including the sanitation of the environment, wind direction, sewage disposal and quarantine protection of all medical staff. The hospital will receive inspection from the World Health Organization. Strict qualification standards were mentioned before the building of the Xiaotangshan SARS hospital.”

He also said: “Though the situation is urgent, we cannot violate the spirit of science. Xiaotangshan Hospital, in future the Xuanwu Hospital and the Chinese-Japan Friendship Hospital will well control the speed of accepting patients and the number of patients admitted, strictly according to scientific standards. We are taking resolute measures to change the situation of hospitals being the source of infection.”

When being asked about the safety of the countryside in Beijing, he said, “This really is an issue that concerns us very, very much. There has been no SARS cases found up to yesterday. But we dare not relax even a little because of the poor hygiene in the countryside and lack of common sense on health matters among the farmers. In view of the situation amongst the farmers, we have drawn up a proposal on the prevention of SARS in the countryside. All the villages have adopted new measures, for example, cleaning and disinfecting; issuing each family with a clinical thermometer and requiring daily body temperature checks for villagers, canceling many gatherings - especially wedding ceremonies and funerals; strict examination at the entry to villages; and raising awareness of personal hygiene. We have prepared a contingency plan against a possible epidemic situation in the countryside, too. It should be said that now I am most satisfied with it but at the same time worried most about the situation developing there (in the countryside).”

When talking about the information transparency of the SARS situation, Wang said that the media in Beijing had been informing the public of the SARS situation, which is an important part of the SARS fight. Beijing Municipal Government has actually stepped up its efforts in this regard. Our government, in return, will win greater confidence, understanding and cooperation from the public.

“Days ago when we announced the decision of isolating SARS patients, we released the news first on related websites since there was no time for the TV stations and newspapers to cover the news so quickly. Our public should always be given information on SARS. Beijing has 32,000 registered doctors and 34,000 nurses, yet only less than 3,000 doctors and nurses, or 4.3 percent of the total, are well-trained in dealing with infectious disease. In addition, not all doctors and nurses know how to incise trachea or use breathing machines when treating SARS patients. We have requisitioned SARS-related doctors across the country to play a practical and important role in our fight.

A question from a reporter is that according to acting mayor Wang’s announcement, compared with the situation ten days ago, the current prevention of SARS has been much improved. Nonetheless, the total number of SARS cases ten days ago was 300 or so. Nowadays the number is rising at a rate of over 100 per day. Will the number of 100-odd infected cases each day continue to go up? There are only a little more than 3,000 medical workers in Beijing specializing in treating respiratory tract diseases. This number is approximately equal to that of the suspected and diagnosed SARS cases. Does this mean that it is already beyond the ability of Beijing’s medical staff to handle the current epidemic situation in this city? In addition, over 1,200 medical workers in Xiaotangshan are from the PLA’s medical departments. Does this indicate that the Beijing municipal medical system is unable to deal with SARS running rampant in the city?

In reply, acting mayor Wang Qishan said, “In my opinion, as long as the source of infection has not been completely cut off, it will be quite dangerous to make any predictions about the number of SARS cases. In other words, such predictions can become a gamble. At present, we should shift the focus on to the figures themselves, and to grasp and analyze the situation behind the figures, including epidemiological investigations to which we did not give priority before. Currently, experts from all parts of the country including Beijing are joining forces to analyze the epidemic situation. Besides, WHO experts will also be invited to participate in this job. Right now an office close to my own has been vacated for WHO experts to work in. Consequently, in the future not only figures but analysis of the SARS situation will be made public.”

Wang said, as far as the medical workers are concerned, “Honestly, what I have told you just now is the objective situation, which is supposed to be known by all citizens via the media.” The Central Government has paid great attention to and led directly Beijing’s fight against SARS. Both General Secretary of the CPC Central Committee Hu Jintao and Premier Wen Jiabao have shown great solicitude for the campaign against SARS in Beijing. There is no doubt that the fight has been strengthened. The Central Government has transferred experts and medical staff from the military and all over the country to strengthen the fight against SARS in Beijing. This is a great campaign centered on treatments for its patients and aimed at “two increases and two decreases.”

At last, as acting mayor of Beijing, I say to all of citizens of Beijing that our responsibility is to maintain the city’s operation under the present severe conditions, namely that of the water supply, coal, electricity, natural gas, traffic, security and sanitation. Our efforts are also to safeguard the operation of official departments, schools, research academies, enterprises, and the normal lives of our citizens, he said.

Wang emphasized, “Cooperation with WHO indicates our faithfulness and transparency in the SARS fight, which will help citizens better understand and cooperate. As time goes by, we will have greater confidence after work has been carried out with the support, understanding and help of the general public.”

(China.org.cn April 30, 2003)