Chinese try smoking and drinking to stave off Sars
Tuesday May 06 2003
While the Beijing government is pumping its message through every possible media outlet, citizens in this plague-stricken capital are circulating their own counter propaganda.
Drink as much Baijiu - the local grain spirit brew - as possible and keep smoking. If you do it with enough enthusiasm, it is sure to kill any mystery virus.
"Of course, it works, and its cheaper than medicine too," said Mrs Ma Dingqiao (52), a pragmatic housewife who drinks a beaker of the topselling "Ergou Tou" a night. With the city of 9m more or less forced to sit out the five-day May day holiday at home watching TV, or checking text messaged updates of the daily death toll, everyone has had plenty of time to discuss their remedies.
Popular folklore holds that vinegar makes the best disinfectant and chewing, or wearing garlic, is the best prevention. Eating barbecued spare ribs is recommended, too, for keeping lungs working when infected with acute respiratory diseases.
The authorities are using the heaven sent opportunity to drive home the strictures which the masses have resisted in over 50 years of patriotic sanitation campaigns.
And of course, state health experts have been busy advising newly-wed couples to postpone conceiving any babies. The last thing the Chinese government wants is a workforce idled by Sars to start a baby-boom.
In Beijing also, hundreds of hospital staff are quitting their jobs for fear of falling ill while looking after Sars patients.
Hospitals are badly stretched as they fight the disease. The death toll rose yesterday by nine to 206, while another 160 were infected, taking the total number of case to 4,280.
To combat the problem in the capital's hospitals, many workers have been given tenfold pay increases to persuade them to stay. The Beijing Star Daily said that the Xiong Ke hospital had increased salaries for some staff from €24 a month to €240 - but still they were staying away. The hospital is short of about 100 employees.
Meanwhile, thousands of villagers in two distant Chinese provinces ransacked buildings set aside as Sars quarantine centres in an increasing sign of unrest over government attempts to contain the disease.
Mobs badly damaged offices and medical facilities before being stopped by police. Some local officials and policemen were beaten up, while residents built roadblocks to stop ambulances from getting through. (© Independent News Service)
- Jasper Beckerin Beijing
