By staff reporters Xu Chao, Yu Dawei, Liu Jingjing, Wang Duan, and Guo Weidi

(Caijing Magazine) Specifics about the origin of the new influenza virus A/H1N1 and how it spread to nearly 10,000 people globally as of May 19 – killing scores -- remain elusive.
 
But in China, where memories of the nation's 2003 SARS outbreak are still fresh, authorities have decided that critical, preventative action shouldn't wait for scientists to know everything about A/H1N1.

In Hong Kong, where China's first confirmed A/H1N1 case was reported, a source close to the SAR government told Caijing that the SARS outbreak taught China the importance of prompt isolation to keep a virus from spreading. That lesson and stark information about the latest outbreak, whose rising toll is updated daily by the World Health Organization (WHO), prompted the government to "take a stricter position of "safe rather than sorry," the source said.

The government's Ministry of Health (MOH) and the General Administration of Quality Supervision, Inspection and Quarantine notified the Chinese public April 25 about WHO's report on the outbreak, which was then called "swine flu." It was the first time the flu was publicly mentioned by Chinese authorities.

Authorities said they were looking into the virus and its impact, and had stepped up temperature checks and health inspections of people entering China from areas where A/H1N1 was spreading.

WHO later raised its flu alert level twice, and the Chinese government reacted by upgrading its defenses accordingly. That included a decision to ban pork imports from affected countries, even though WHO's Web site said this new flu type apparently is not transmissible to people who eat pork or pork products if handled properly.

At a meeting chaired by Premier Wen Jiabao on April 28, the State Council assigned various government agencies to prevention and control tasks. On May 3, MOH started requiring local authorities to isolate anyone in close contact with the flu virus, and provide daily reports. The ministry pledged to immediately notify the public about probable and confirmed cases. And on May 5, the State Council set aside 5 billion yuan from the central budget for flu control and prevention, to be matched with local allocations.

Some countries expressed reservations about China's strict isolation and quarantine policies. But many apparently realized that the SARS outbreak is still a fresh memory in China.

Huang Jianshi, assistant to the head of the Chinese Academy of Medical Sciences, called the government's measures "a revolutionary step" compared to its campaigns against SARS in 2003 and avian flu in 2004.

Huang, who worked at the Tennessee state health and quarantine department in the United States before returning to China during the SARS crisis, praised the latest policies. He said the government is putting more emphasis on disease monitoring, public education, and prevention and control than on high-tech development of hardware, such as medical equipment and vaccines.

"Vaccines for 1.3 billion people can't be produced in a short period of time," he said. "But the virus can spread over night."