The railway, highway and air transport departments in Beijing Saturday launched a campaign to take various measures to contain the spread of severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS).
At 9:00 a.m., on the No. 1 platform of Beijing Railway Station, specially-dressed staff was seen busy at disinfecting the train for Shenyang City, in northeast China.
In the city's four railway stations, 192 arriving and departing trains had to be disinfected every day, said Gao Guanghan, director in charge of disease prevention under the local railway administration. It took about 40 minutes to disinfect one train, according to Gao.
If SARS cases or suspected cases were found on a train, it would be treated by the emergency SARS team, said Gao.
On the western side of the station, there was an observation clinic especially for passengers with fever. Set up on April 16, the clinic has admitted more than 90 passengers.
In the Zhaogongkou long-distance bus station, the largest of its kind in the city, with a handling capacity of over 300 buses, Xinhua reporters found passengers were waiting calmly for their buses. The station was broadcasting information on SARS and brochures were distributed to passengers.
At the checkpoint, the station staff was seen to take down notes of the detailed information of each passenger after checking their body temperature. "It's for emergency use," said Zhao Wenzhi, director of the local transport commission. "This makes it easy to track the passengers if anything happens after they leave."
In Beijing International Airport, the largest and busiest in China, reporters saw the airport staff members were spraying disinfectant in the waiting hall. A professional disinfection team of 40 people was assigned to do the job twice a day at the airport.
Reporters were told that the airport has also installed several infra-red temperature scanners to check the temperature of every passenger.
(Xinhua News Agency, April 27, 2003)
