Virus spreads panic among Beijing students
Thursday, April 17, 2003
china.scmp.com
JOSEPHINE MA and STAFF REPORTERS in Beijing
Panic spread across several universities in Beijing yesterday as reports of Sars infections emerged and officials refused to provide detailed information.
Students posted messages in Internet chat rooms condemning the government's lack of transparency in handling the crisis.
Some students said they would flee, but others feared they might spread the disease on the train or back in their home towns.
Zhang Jingjun, a postgraduate student at Beijing University, said he was scared and was considering going home soon.
Xie Yufeng, 21, from Beijing University's Information Management Department, had the same feeling. His hometown in Anhui was safer than Beijing, he said.
Beijing University and the Central University of Finance and Economics have cancelled some classes after lecturers in both schools were infected with Sars.
The economics department of Beijing University suspended classes from Tuesday after lecturer Li Mei contracted Sars from her mother. Ms Li's mother died on Tuesday.
Economics classes were cancelled on Tuesday as dozens of teachers who had been in contact with Ms Li were sent for checks. A special taskforce to tackle the spread of Sars at the university held an emergency meeting yesterday and asked the Ministry of Education for permission to shut the entire university, according to university sources.
Zhang Yan, director of the president's secretariat, declined to comment on the request yesterday. But the president's office posted a notice on the university's Web site saying classes would resume tomorrow, implying that it was closed today.
The Ministry of Education declined to comment yesterday.
The university has cancelled a number of events, including the open day for high school graduates and a sports day.
The blood donation centre on the campus was also closed temporarily, according to notices posted on the university Web site.
The department of international relations, which is on the next floor down from the economics department, will allow lecturers to decide whether or not to continue classes, according to an administration officer in the department.
But students posted messages in Internet chat rooms saying the department would be shut until April 25.
The primary school affiliated with Beijing University, which Ms Li's daughter attends, has suspended classes, while Ms Li's husband, a lecturer in information technology at the university, has been quarantined.
Sars cases were also reported at the Central University of Finance and Economics yesterday after an elderly lecturer first caught the virus.
A senior university administrative officer yesterday claimed that there were no cases among students but declined to confirm if teachers were affected. However, students posted Internet messages saying the disease had been spreading rapidly among teachers and that the university would close until May 8.
But one source said only some departments had been shut down, not the entire school. The source said at least six cases had been reported.
The university posted a notice on its Web site announcing the final examination for master students and the open day for high school graduates had been postponed. |
