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China will host the 2008 Olympics, in what it hopes will be a showcase for a `new China' on the world stage. Lurking in the background has been the fear that, with millions of visitors and unprecedented worldwide press coverage, another outbreak of SARS or the emergence of Avian Flu could prove disastrous.
This from Skynews.
Virus Games Plan Revealed
Updated: 11:32, Sunday April 08, 2007
Thousands of hospital beds will be kept empty during the Beijing Olympics to deal with an outbreak of bird flu or SARS.
By the time the Games begin in August 2008, the city would have 6,350 beds and 144 hospitals equipped to diagnose and treat infectious diseases.
An official at Beijing Disease Prevention and Control Centre said: "In the past, the outbreak of an infectious disease might not be reported in Beijing for up to a week.
"Now ... the delay has been reduced to less than 10 hours."
China was criticised for its initial cover-up of the SARS virus, which originated in southern Guangdong province in 2002.
It rapidly spread around the world, infecting about 8,000 people and killing 800.
An outbreak in Beijing panicked residents and caused many to stay indoors for weeks on end in 2003 for fear of infection.
Comforting, I suppose.
But it is worth noting that despite assurances that an outbreak could be reported in `less than 10 hours', when we do hear of a human infection from bird flu out of China, it has often occurred weeks after the patient entered the hospital.
