PLA Daily 2003-05-02

　　Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao meets with middle school students in south China's Guangdong Province April 30.

　　Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao praised Guangdong Province on Wednesday for its remarkable progress in the initial stages of the fight against SARS and urged leaders at all levels to redouble their efforts to prevent the spread of the disease.

　　Wen made his comments during an inspection tour to south China's Guangdong Province following his return from Bangkok where he had attended the special ASEAN-China meeting on SARS.

　　While in Guangzhou, capital of Guangdong, Wen visited schools, communities, construction sites and hospitals.

　　At a secondary school attached to the South China Normal University, Wen inquired whether there had been any cases of SARS on campus and encouraged students to exercise and study hard.

　　In a visit to the community clinic at Tianhe District, Wen chatted with residents and asked the clinic to provide quick and convenient services for locals.

　　At the Guangzhou Subway construction site, Wen extended festival greetings to workers on behalf of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China and the State Council on the eve of International Labor Day.

　　At the Guangdong Provincial People's Hospital, the premier called on all medical workers to make great contributions to the fight against SARS. He called on governments at various levels to look after the health of medical workers, improve their working and living conditions and celebrate their hard work.

　　After hearing reports presented by the Guangdong provincial government last night, Wen said the province had accumulated useful experience for treating SARS, but still faced an arduous task.

　　He said the number of new SARS cases must be reduced, cure rates must be raised and mortality must be lowered.

　　Resolute measures had to be taken to prevent the spread of SARS in rural areas and other areas without SARS cases. Medical teams should be sent immediately to rural areas and medical workers should be trained to prepare for the early discovery, isolation and treatment of suspected SARS cases.

　　Meanwhile, Wen called on officials in Guangdong to boost economic growth to minimize the negative influence of SARS on economic and social development.

　　(May 1, Xinhuanet)