None of the about 4,000 foreign experts working in Beijing have so
far been infected or suspected of being infected by the severe
acute respiratory syndrome (SARS), an official with the Beijing
Municipal Office for Foreign Affairs said Thursday.
Most of the foreign experts have remained calm in the face of the
epidemic, in good health and working as usual, the official
said.
This was shown by a survey of foreign experts working at several
dozen foreign-funded enterprises including the Beijing-based
offices of the Temrumo Corporation and Mitsut Co. of Japan, Airbus
Industrie China, Dell Corporation and Tomen Co., according to the
official.
During the period when Beijing reported two-digit new SARS cases
daily, Rakesh Vats, an Indian expert teaching at Beijing
University, continued his teaching as usual.
He
told his students to keep calm and pay attention to their personal
sanitation. Encouraged by Vats, none of his postgraduatesstudents
left school or missed a a single course.
Eight international schools including the Beijing BISS
International School, the International School of Beijing-Shunyi,
the Korea International School in Beijing and the International
Montessori Kindergarten of Beijing have carried on classes as
normal.
To
obtain timely information on the health condition of foreignexperts
and their relatives, the Beijing Municipal Office for Foreign
Affairs urged all concerned work units to report on their health,
how they responded to the SARS situation, and their suggestions on
prevention and control of the spread of SARS.
The Beijing Municipal Office for Foreign Affairs has arranged two
meetings for foreign experts, inviting Chinese medical expertsto
give advice on how to prevent SARS. The office also presented
foreign experts with the English version of SARS-fighting
bookletsand told them how to contact hospitals.
To
support Beijing's efforts to fight SARS, Peter Leupp, chairman of
ABB (China) Co., Ltd., on behalf of all the company's experts and
working staff, donated 1 million yuan (more than 120,000 US
dollars) to Beijing.
(Xinhua News Agency May 29, 2003)
