Experts from China's Ministry of Health and the World Health Organization (WHO) Saturday inspected operations to curb and prevent SARS in the rural areas of central and south Henan Province.
The five experts listened to a report from Suiping county and visited the sanitation and anti-epidemic station and fever clinics in the county.
WHO expert James Maguire noted that patients with fever were asked to see a doctor in special fever clinics and all doctors wore thick masks and hats.
There were checkpoints at every intersection on the way to Wencheng village to disinfect every passing vehicle and test the body temperatures of travelers.
All sanitation stations in the village reported to the central hospital twice a day on the number of migrant workers and villagers with fevers. Some 117 people were quarantined in the village.
The local government ensured migrant workers who returned from outside were quarantined in order to curb the spread of SARS.
Suiping county, with a population of 540,000, has 67,500 migrant workers, of whom nearly 10,000 are employed in Beijing and30,000 in Guangdong, two of the areas worst-affected by SARS in China. Over 15,000 people had returned by Friday.
(Xinhua News Agency May 18, 2003)
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