>>Beijing warns no quick end to SARS epidemic
BEIJING - Senior Beijing health officials warned there would be no quick resolution to the SARS epidemic gripping the Chinese capital and that the high number of new cases was expected to continue.
"According to my experience as an epidemiologist, I can say the high pattern of number of cases will continue for some time," Liang Wannian, deputy director of the Beijing health department, said at a press conference Friday.
"From the experience of Hong Kong and Guangdong, although the trend is downward, there are still new cases occurring in these two places... I think it will take a long period of time for us to eliminate this epidemic."
Liang said he believed the killer bug would be beaten over time but it was too early to say when.
"I believe, in the case of SARS, the number of patients will drop in the future, but it is hard to say when because we don't know a lot about the disease," he said.
He added that as time went by, a group immunity was expected to develop among people, "thus forming an immunity shield for the vulnerable."
Since the government admitted covering up the extent of the epidemic, the number of deaths in Beijing has soared to 82 with 1,553 people infected.
In the past weeks, around 100 new cases have been reported daily in the Chinese capital.
Beijing's acting mayor Wednesday described the situation as "severe" and warned there were not enough hospital beds to cope.
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Oh, swell. Group immunity means you are a member of the group that survived. |
