Monday, 31-Mar-2003

NEW YORK, March 31 (AFP) - The world should cut all travel links to China for the "grossly negligent" way it has handled a killer pneumonia virus which has now infected 1,700 people in 15 countries, the Wall Street Journal said Monday.

The paper, which deemed Beijing's actions a "coverup," noted that mystery still surrounds the virus, which erupted in Southern China and has now killed at least 62 people.

"But there's no mystery about why it is spreading worldwide," the paper said in its lead editorial. "This is the price of China's initial coverup."

"Given Beijing's refusal to take even elementary public health measures, some hard choices are called for.

"The most effective way to halt the spread of the disease would be for other countries to suspend all travel links with China until it has implemented a transparent public health campaign."

It would also be necessary to suspend flights to Hong Kong, which has become a transit point for travellers spreading the disease, the editorial said.

China provided little information about the virus Monday, which it said last week had killed 34 people nationwide.

But regional airlines have already cut some operations to China and elsewhere amid the scare.

The United States last week curtailed government visits to China, Hong Kong, Singapore and Taiwan and warned Americans against travel there due to the outbreak of the mysterious disease.

Concluding its acidic editorial, the Journal blamed China for covering up health problems in the past, adding "this time China's problem is also the world's, and a global quarantine may be the only way to get it to act responsibly."

http://www.ptd.net/webnews/wed/bb/Qhealth-pneumonia-us.RDLE_DMV.html