Now China press blares SARS warnings

‘‘I think it’s a sign that the Chinese government is taking this seriously,’’ Jim Palmer, spokesman for a WHO team visiting Beijing, said of the publicity drive. The campaign aims to allay public anxiety fuelled by endless rumours and reports after domestic coverage ignored the flu-like virus for weeks and excited worldwide ire.

‘‘Wash hands after sneezing, coughing and cleaning the nose,’’ advises a pamphlet featuring cartoon characters sneezing on the subway and quivering with chills.

Beijing is distributing 1.5 million copies of the brochure on SARS transmission, detection and prevention, 50,000 of them in English.

State television giant CCTV listed 10 Health Ministry recommendations on its noon newscast, among which was ‘‘Number Six: limit dinner parties, do not smoke, drink less’’.

The list, circulated on the Internet, said people should carry face masks but need not wear them always — only ‘‘if you show unusual symptoms, or you detect unusual symptoms in someone around you”.

Official news agency Xinhua said China had a total of 1,418 SARS cases and 64 deaths as of April 13. Beijing had nine new cases, taking the toll in the capital from 22 to 31, it added. Now SARS stories make front page headlines in state newspapers, relegating news of war in Iraq to the inside.

To be sure, reports put an upbeat spin on the outbreak, reflecting the government line that China has ‘‘effectively contained’’ the disease.

The front page of Monday’s Beijing Youth Daily featured Premier Wen Jiabao’s latest battle cry against the disease.

Another front page item said a Beijing health official rejected as ‘‘lies’’ a Chinese Internet rumour that 143 people had died in the capital of an unknown epidemic.

The bad news was on page three: the World Health Organisation still lacks evidence to pinpoint the cause of the disease, thought to stem from a new strain of coronavirus, best known for causing the common cold.

Beijing papers also neglected to mention the official toll and caseload from the disease.

Some doctors say actual numbers in Beijing are much higher than those officially reported. The newspapers reeled out other statistics instead.

By Friday, the city had sterilised 17,144 public vehicles and 23,000 square metre of floor space at capital airport; it had a team of 2,500 people making checks door-to-door and a 24-hour disease hotline fielding queries, the papers said. (Reuters)