The respiratory disease wards with two hospitals in Beijing were announced to be lifted out of isolation on Thursday as no new cases of SARS infection have ever been found after two weeks' isolation.

Flanked by flowers, 159 medical workers, in-patients and helpers, all smiling, unveiled face and walked out of the strictly quarantined sections at Jiangong Hospital and at Renmin Hospital affiliated to the Peking University.

On April 2, a nurse surnamed Li from Jiangong Hospital of Beijing was diagnosed to have contracted the severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS) while receiving medical treatment at the ICU of Renmin Hospital.

To prevent SARS spreading, the Beijing municipal health authorities on the same day ordered isolation of the respiratory diseases wards with the both hospitals where the nurse used to seek medical treatment. And people who have had close contacts with the nurse were also put under strict medical surveillance and epidemiological investigation.

Jin Dapeng, head of the Beijing municipal administration for public health, said when the isolation was in place, all in-patients with the two hospitals were asked to take temperature on a daily basis.

And disease control workers carefully treated specimens collected from the nurse for medical observation and thoroughly disinfected all the infected places so that no new cases of SARS infection have happened at the two hospitals.

According to Jin, the nurse, the first diagnosed SARS patient in Beijing this spring, was been discharged from hospital on Wednesday after having fully recovered from the diseases.

The two hospitals will soon resume normal medical service, scientific research and teaching work after a thorough disinfection, said Jin.

(Xinhua News Agency May 6, 2004)