Beijing shuts its schools in bid to stem virus

Public schools in Beijing are to close for two weeks, affecting 1.7 million pupils, the city’s school board said today, amid mounting Chinese efforts to stem the spread of the deadly Sars virus.

The closure begins tomorrow and lasts through what would have been the May Day school holiday.

An official with the Beijing Municipal Education Commission, who would give her name only as Miss Cui, said tests for primary and secondary school pupils were postponed indefinitely.

Cui wouldn’t give a reason, but Beijing newspapers cited a government notice that said it was meant to prevent the spread of severe acute respiratory syndrome, which has killed at least 28 people in the Chinese capital.

The Beijing paper said students with internet access would receive lessons at home, and teachers would be required to come to work to supervise their studies.

On Sunday, Chinese authorities called off the week-long May Day holiday period in a bid to prevent tens of millions of Chinese from travelling and possibly spreading the virus.

They later restored five days, but travel agencies were barred from transporting tour groups from one province to another.

Nationwide, China has reported 97 deaths from Sars and says it has a total of 2,158 people infected.

Most of the deaths and infections are in Guangdong, the southern province where the disease is suspected to have originated.

But new cases are being reported daily in areas ranging from central China to its north-western desert regions and northern grasslands.

Beijing’s mayor was replaced yesterday after the city government was accused of mishandling the outbreak.

The World Health Organisation said city officials failed to trace patients who might have been exposed, which the United Nations agency said could let the disease spread.

Elsewhere, the eastern city of Hangzhou called off community programmes in school buildings and closed school playgrounds and sports fields to outsiders, newspapers reported.

They said schools throughout the country had been ordered to step up work on disinfecting their facilities and teaching pupils hygiene, but no other closures were immediately reported.

In Beijing, an infrared body temperature scanner has been set up at the capital’s airport to check passengers for fever, a Sars symptom, reports said.

They said similar devices were to be set up at train stations and airports in Shanghai, the