Millions of migrant workers in China have ignored government warnings against returning from SARS-affected areas to their rural homes, as the Prime Minister, Mr Wen Jiabao, warned yesterday of a serious outbreak in the Chinese hinterland.
More than 800,000 migrant workers have returned in recent weeks to central Henan province, one of the country's most populous areas, while one million have returned to neighbouring Anhui, local officials and press reports said.
"At present there has not been a large epidemic in the rural areas, but we must be on high alert.
"Neglecting prevention work in the rural regions will not be tolerated," Mr Wen was quoted by the People's Daily newspaper as saying.
"The basic rural medical facilities are weak, technical capabilities are not adequate \ the epidemic surveillance system is not sound," he added.
During a nationwide teleconference with senior provincial officials on Tuesday, Mr Wen said that the nation faced "stark challenges" in controlling the spread of SARS in the countryside.
Stopping the epidemic from spreading to rural areas would be key to containing the virus nationwide, he said, as he repeated an apparently ineffective demand for migrant workers not to return home.
"It has been very difficult to advise migrant workers in affected areas not to return home," the China News Service said, citing efforts by Henan to control the migrant population.
"The situation of SARS prevention in the entire province [of Henan\] is extremely serious."
Some 75 per cent of an estimated 290,000 migrant workers that returned to Henan between May 1st and 4th came from SARS-affected areas, it said.
Meanwhile, in Shanghai, China's economic hub, measures to keep SARS at bay are being increased after neighbouring Nanjing quarantined nearly 10,000 people.
The city of 16 million has reported only six confirmed SARS cases among a total of 34 suspected cases.
"The situation in the Pearl River delta area has been controlled.
"If it can be controlled in Beijing then Shanghai's external economic environment will be greatly improved," an official said. - (AFP, Reuters)