Beijing, Oct 13: With the winter setting in early in northern China this year, health officials are on alert and have issued a warning of a possible resurgence of the deadly flu-like Sars epidemic striking with a vengeance.
The sudden and sharp plunge in temperature in most areas of China has sparked fears of a possible return of Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome and the country has mobilised to prepare for another outbreak, the official Xinhua news agency reported.
Zhong Nanshan, a prominent respiratory disease expert said Sars would return this winter.
Speaking at a seminar on respiratory diseases and Sars here, Zhong, however, said that with the strict reporting mechanism and experience from the last Sars crisis, the epidemic would not cause serious damage again.
A leading Chinese epidemiologist has also warned of the resurgence of Sars, but predicted no widespread epidemic outbreak this time, Xinhua news agency said.
It was unlikely the Sars virus would die out naturally and it would definitely come back, said Zeng Guang with the China Disease Control Centre.
"But the scale of the epidemic depends on the control measures we take," Zeng said.
North China's Tianjin Port has already resumed a temperature reporting system yesterday. Any passengers through the port with a temperature above 38 degrees celsius would be provided medical observation and reported to relevant authorities.
Bureau Report
