Announcement and spread of SARS epidemic situation

When it first broke out in June+February, 5438, the governments of Guangzhou and Guangdong never released relevant information, nor did they inform Hong Kong. At that time, the government banned the media from reporting the illness and cut off the news clips of Hong Kong TV. The local government also asked the media not to exaggerate the epidemic situation in this area, so as not to cause public panic. By the end of 65438+February, this "atypical pneumonia" epidemic began to spread on the Internet. Because I didn't know the condition at that time, the relevant comments were confusing. Subsequently, the China government banned the discussion on the China epidemic, and all forums kept silent on the news of SARS. At that time, several users of the People's Network Power Forum, one of the largest official forums in China, were blocked by administrators for discussing the SARS epidemic. In February 65438, Huang Xing, the first patient in the world, was hospitalized after her initial illness. On October 2, 2003, Heyuan reported the relevant situation to the Provincial Health Department. Soon after, several cases of medical staff were infected in Zhongshan city. Guangdong province sent an expert investigation team to Zhongshan city to investigate, and on123 October, 65438, it sent an investigation report to all medical and health care units in the province, asking the relevant units to pay attention to it and do a good job in the prevention of the disease.

From 65438+ 10/2, some severe patients from other places began to be transferred to some big hospitals in Guangzhou for treatment. As of February 9, the number of cases in Guangzhou exceeded 100, many of which were medical staff. At this time, two of these cases found in Guangzhou died. At this time, the Ministry of Health began to pay attention to the cases in Guangdong, and sent an expert group led by Vice Minister Ma to Guangzhou on the afternoon of February 9 to help find the cause and guide the prevention and treatment work.

Since February 9, the rumor that drinking white vinegar and drinking Radix Isatidis can prevent strange diseases has started, and now clues have been snapped up in the market. 10, snapping up reached a climax. At ordinary times 10 yuan, a large bag of Radix Isatidis suddenly soared to 30-40 yuan, and the price of white vinegar also climbed from 10 yuan to 100 yuan in 80 yuan. On that day, a photojournalist actually took a historical photo of a bottle of 1000 yuan white vinegar.

On February 1 1, major media in Guangdong Province reported cases of atypical pneumonia in some areas. According to the report, as of 3 pm on February 10, 305 cases were found and 5 cases died. Among them, there were 105 cases of medical staff infection, and none of them died. Of the 305 patients, 59 have recovered and been discharged, and all the patients who have not been discharged have been effectively treated, and the situation is stable. The youngest of the dead was a boy aged 10 in Guangzhou, and the oldest was a 59-year-old man in Foshan.

On the morning of February 1 1, the Guangzhou municipal government held a press conference to announce the situation of atypical pneumonia in Guangzhou, saying that all the patients' conditions were under control. It is emphasized that the infection rate of over 300 people in Guangzhou10 million population is very small, and atypical pneumonia only occurs locally, and no new cases have been reported in Heyuan, Zhongshan and other cities. He also explained that the reason why the situation was not announced before February was that most patients in Heyuan and Zhongshan had recovered or improved after treatment, and atypical pneumonia was not a legally reported infectious disease, and the number of cases was small. The person in charge stressed that the epidemic situation will be announced according to the Infectious Diseases Law.

On the afternoon of the same day, the Guangdong Provincial Health Department held a briefing. Zhong Nanshan, an academician of China Academy of Engineering, said that people who go to public places for normal activities will not be infected, and announced that Guangdong universities, primary schools and middle schools will start classes as scheduled. Experts also pointed out that from a clinical point of view, it may be caused by a virus, or it may be caused by a subtype or variant of the virus. For the treatment of patients, the method of "suit the right medicine" is adopted. On February 12, 2003, the person in charge of China Center for Disease Control and Prevention predicted that there would not be a large-scale epidemic of respiratory infectious diseases in China in the near future, but there might be a small-scale epidemic of respiratory infectious diseases in some areas.

As the epidemic situation has not been fully demonstrated, the China government did not notify the World Health Organization of the epidemic situation in Guangdong every day before February 2003. On February 10, the government of China notified the World Health Organization of the disease. In the initial data provided, only the incidence rate in Guangdong Province was listed. The investigation team of the World Health Organization, which is visiting Beijing, also failed to enter Guangdong for investigation. At this time, before and after the Spring Festival in China, the epidemic spread due to the large-scale population movement in the Spring Festival travel rush craze. Rumors and panic spread faster than the epidemic, and in Jiangxi and other places, there was also a phenomenon of snapping up vinegar and Radix Isatidis. On the day of the announcement, panic buying occurred in Guangdong and other places.

On February 12, because the epidemic was not serious, the friendly match between China football team and world champion Brazil football team went on normally. The two sides fought 0-0, and the fans on the scene were full, with more than 50,000 people. On February 14, the media reported that the epidemic situation of atypical pneumonia had little impact, and the off-season of Guangzhou tourism market was not weak. The "Tayu Lo Guangzhou Concert 2003" originally scheduled to be held in Tianhe Stadium on February 18 has not been postponed, and all the production and rehearsal plans of the performance have not changed. On February 14, 2003, China Center for Disease Control and Prevention said that it had organized relevant experts to identify the samples collected in Guangdong. It is said that as of that day, there have been no new cases in the local area for five consecutive days, and the total number of reported cases in Guangdong Province is still 305.

On February 2 1, Liu Jianlun, a retired professor from the Second Affiliated Hospital of Sun Yat-sen University, came to Hong Kong to attend a relative's wedding, stayed in Room 9 1 1 of Hong Kong Jinghua International Hotel, and infected seven other passengers. Liu Jianlun went to the emergency department of Guanghua Hospital on February 22nd and died on March 4th.

In late February, an American businessman based in Shanghai arrived in Hanoi, Vietnam via Hong Kong and was confirmed to be infected. Later, many medical staff in local hospitals in Hanoi were also infected. The patient later returned to Hong Kong for treatment, but still died on March 14. Carlo urbani, a doctor at the WHO headquarters of the World Health Organization, first informed the WHO about the local medical staff and named the disease SARS. The doctor later died of illness on March 29th.

On March 5th, the Guangdong Provincial People's Congress put forward a motion, pointing out that international assistance should be considered in the early warning and treatment of infectious diseases without affecting national security.

On March 6th, Beijing received the first imported SARS case.

On March 10, TVB and ATV, the two largest television organizations in Hong Kong, broadcast a news at the same time: Prince of Wales Hospital in Sha Tin revealed that over 10 medical staff had symptoms of fever and upper respiratory tract infection in the past few days, and the disease was found to be contagious.

On March 12, the World Health Organization issued a global warning, and then the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention issued a health warning again. The World Health Organization suggests isolating suspected cases and establishing a network of medical personnel to help study the SARS epidemic. The network includes a secure website for X-ray research and international telephone conference. On March 15, the World Health Organization officially named the disease SARS.

On March 13, the first SARS case (Taiwanese businessman surnamed Qin) was reported in the Affiliated Hospital of Medical College of Taiwan Province University. However, due to proper disposal, no other infection occurred except the family members and colleagues of Taiwanese businessmen surnamed Qin. By March 2003 13, the number of medical staff suffering from SARS in Hong Kong had increased to 1 15. On March 20th, SARS entered the community, and five children aged 2 to 15 were diagnosed with infection. Since then, SARS has rapidly invaded office buildings, schools and public places, with more than 60 cases at its peak. Even Ho Chiu-wei, director of the Hong Kong Hospital Authority, could not escape this fate and was hospitalized due to illness.

On March 14, the Chief Executive of the SAR, Tung Chee-hwa, personally visited the medical staff in Prince of Wales Hospital to learn about the actual situation.

/kloc-After March of 0/5, severe respiratory distress (SARS) was reported in many places around the world, spreading from Southeast Asia to Australia, Europe and North America. Many cases of atypical pneumonia have appeared in Indonesia, the Philippines, Singapore, Thailand, Vietnam, the United States, Canada and other countries.

On March 15, a suspected patient was admitted to the emergency department of Peking University Affiliated People's Hospital. The patient surnamed Li, in his 70s, came home from Hong Kong to visit relatives. Later, this patient named Li was called Beijing Poison King. Because the condition of SARS was not clear at first, the hospital did not take corresponding strict measures, which led to a large number of medical staff being infected in the hospital. On March 17, Li was transferred to Dongzhimen Hospital affiliated to Beijing University of Chinese Medicine, causing extensive pollution. Within a week, 1 1 medical staff in Dongzhimen Hospital, including Liu Qingquan, director of the emergency department, were all infected with SARS, among whom Duan Lijun, an emergency doctor, and a nurse died unfortunately. On March 20th, Li died because of illness.

On March 18, a spokesman for the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of China said that the World Health Organization informed the Ministry of Health of China about the recent situation of SARS in the countries concerned and spoke highly of the effective measures taken by the China government to deal with SARS in Guangdong. On March 19, Minister of Health Zhang Hui met with the representative of the World Health Organization in China and introduced the epidemic situation of atypical pneumonia in some areas of Guangdong Province.

On March 20th, the World Health Organization announced that only half of the staff in many hospitals in Vietnam and Hong Kong were working normally. The organization also warned medical staff that direct contact with patients without protective measures may lead to diseases.

On March 25th, Ye Xin, head nurse of the emergency department of Ershadao Branch of Guangdong Provincial Hospital of Traditional Chinese Medicine, died of SARS, becoming the first medical staff who died in the line of duty, causing great shock.

On March 27th, the Hong Kong government announced that it was forbidden to visit SARS patients. People who have close contact with SARS patients should report to the designated clinics of the Department of Health every day within 10 days, and implement quarantine declaration measures at all entry control points. On March 27th, primary and secondary schools and kindergartens were closed.

On March 3 1 day, the Hong Kong government isolated an apartment in Taoda Garden (Block E). More than 100 people in this apartment are infected. The residents of the apartment were later transferred to a holiday center, and the authorities completely disinfected the apartment. The authorities believe that the spread of diseases is mainly related to the design of building structures. It is said that when patients in ward 8A go to see a doctor in area E, it may be spread through excrement or waste water after going to the toilet in the unit. This incident also made people worry about whether the virus will spread through the air, but WHO later denied this possibility.

On March 3rd1,China launched the Technical Plan for Prevention and Control of SARS, which was published on the Internet on the same day. It is said that the pathogen of atypical pneumonia is not clear at present, but on the basis of summarizing the prevention and control work in the previous stage, the prevention and control technical scheme has been formulated.

On March 3rd1,Professor Hong Tao, an academician of China Academy of Engineering, said that the pathogen of atypical pneumonia had been successfully isolated, and it was probably a new variant of chlamydia.

In fact, on March 25th, the US Centers for Disease Control and the Department of Microbiology of Hong Kong University announced that the pathogen of SARS was a "coronavirus" from pigs, but it did not attract the attention of Beijing researchers. Until April of 16, the World Health Organization announced in Geneva that a variant of coronavirus was the pathogen that caused atypical pneumonia.

On April 1, the US government recalled all non-essential diplomats and their families in Hong Kong and Guangdong. The U.S. government also warned American citizens not to travel to Guangdong or Hong Kong unless necessary. The Swiss government also banned Hong Kong manufacturers from participating in the upcoming Swiss watch fair, fearing that the disease would spread to Switzerland. On the evening of April 1 Sunday, more than 700 residents of Amoy University were evacuated and took the minibus provided by the government to stay in two resorts, Sai Kung and Lei Yue Mun.

On April 2nd, the government of China promised to cooperate fully with the World Health Organization. China has announced all cases to WHO. There were 36 new cases1case in China and Guangdong provinces in March, and 9 cases died. At the same time, Beijing, Shanxi and Hunan provinces in China have also been infected. However, China's Ministry of Health said that Guangdong's illness has been basically controlled. The World Health Organization also went to Guangdong to understand the epidemic situation and advised tourists not to travel or work in Hong Kong and Guangdong. On April 3, experts from the World Health Organization arrived in Guangdong to inspect the epidemic situation and discuss its development with local experts. On the afternoon of April 5th, China Vice Minister of Health Ma met with five experts from the World Health Organization in Guangzhou.

By the beginning of April, China's official media began to report more SARS cases, but it was generally believed that the epidemic had been controlled. On April 3rd, the Ministry of Health of China held a press conference in Beijing, announcing that experts from the World Health Organization had arrived in Guangdong. After checking the situation in Beijing, Beijing was ruled out as an epidemic area. Zhang, Minister of Health, said that the epidemic has been effectively controlled and it is safe to work and travel in China and Beijing. He said that there were only 12 SARS cases and 3 deaths in Beijing at that time. He said with a smile that it was safe to wear a mask or not. Zhang also pointed out that SARS refers to being effectively controlled, but not effectively eliminated or completely eliminated all over the world. When explaining why the Ministry of Health did not report the epidemic situation, it said that SARS was not a legal infectious disease pathogen and did not belong to the reporting scope. The epidemic only occurred in local areas, and the Law on the Prevention and Control of Infectious Diseases stipulated that it should be announced by the local government where the epidemic occurred, namely the Guangdong Provincial Government. Wang Guoqing (Deputy Director of the State Council Press Office) also pointed out that from early February to April, there were more than 500 reports and articles about atypical pneumonia in Guangdong media. If the reporter is interested, please ask Guangdong Information Office to provide the article catalogue. Many people think that Zhang's remarks are very misleading to people and governments at home and abroad. In short, people pay insufficient attention to the epidemic.