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| East Asia |
| Sars spreads to China’s army |
| 2003-05-14 |
| Sars (severe acute respiratory syndrome for those of you who don't know, caused by a mutant coronavirus with a reservoir in either swine or poultry) has struck China's three million-strong military, the World Health Organisation said yesterday - just as the number of cases in the country appeared to be heading downwards. The number of new Sars patients in China was less than 100 yesterday, and the number of cases in Beijing less than 50 for the fourth day running. Ten people died, bringing the total to 262 in China. But the government's promises of new openness in its "war on Sars" came into renewed question when it was left to a WHO adviser to disclose that he had discovered the outbreak in the People's Liberation Army. Eight per cent of Beijing's 2,000 cases - about 150 to 160 people - were military personnel, Philippe Barboza said. He added that the full significance of the finding could not be judged, as he had been given no details of the patients. "The records do not say who they are, where they caught the disease, even often their sex," he said. Living conditions in the armed forces make an ideal breeding ground for the Sars virus, which has most commonly been passed on by close personal contact. The PLA's traditional secretiveness makes it This could really make a dent in the PLA. |
| Posted by:Steve White |
| #8 While I doubt Communist China's reported death rate, that's not really the issue. SARS doesn't kill that many people. Today's reported death toll is 267 (from November 1 to today). Even if you add three zeros to that, 267,000 is still not very many people in a country of 1,100,000,000 people. What is costly are the sick days lost of production, and those lost to massive quarantines. Flu kills 38,000 Americans every year, but costs billions in lost productivity. Communist China's economy hovers between subsistance and industrial and it needs all of the industry it can keep running not to slide backwards. Today's numbers are at the WHO here. |
| Posted by: Chuck 2003-05-14 15:39:12 |
| #7 Ditto Paul. Watch as some grieving peasant realizes that his soldier son died because his 'government' hid the facts, and starts potting pols. Then a Gdansk. |
| Posted by: Scott 2003-05-14 11:23:11 |
| #6 Like I said in an earlier comment a week or two ago, SARS has the possibility of being China's Chernobyl. It is not necessarily the magnitude of the outbreak of the disease, but the fact that the ChiComs covered it up and are still lying to their people that may shake any confidence in the govt. The Chicoms can't manage this one, it is managing them. |
| Posted by: Alaska Paul 2003-05-14 11:11:15 |
| #5 A joint military excercise between North Korea and China's liberated military of the people would be interesting. |
| Posted by: Lucky 2003-05-14 10:29:06 |
| #4 Chuck, as usual, is on the money. How anyone can accept any "news" from China on any disaster like SARS defines gullibility. The likely toll will only become clear years from now by extrapolating stats from isolated pockets able to be fact-checked. |
| Posted by: Frank G 2003-05-14 09:55:54 |
| #3 Don't forget that the largest manufacturer in Communist China is the PLA. If this spreads in secret in the PLA, it could really impact their economy. I've been blogging as I can the SARS outbreak. Communist China has been lying from the beginning on their stats. As of yesterday's numbers, their death rate was the lowest of all countries reporting major outbreaks, 12.9%. Canada is 18.2%, Hong Kong 17.1%, etc. How likely is it that the nation where SARS originated, and that has the highest number of cases also has the lowest death rate? |
| Posted by: Chuck 2003-05-14 09:18:23 |
| #2 I hope it does. |
| Posted by: Mike N. 2003-05-14 06:46:24 |
| #1 Like I said in an earlier comment a week or two ago, SARS has the possibility of being China's Chernobyl. It is not necessarily the magnitude of the outbreak of the disease, but the fact that the ChiComs covered it up and are still lying to their people that may shake any confidence in the govt. The Chicoms can't manage this one, it is managing them. |
| Posted by: Alaska Paul 5/14/2003 11:11:15 AM |