Millions die of flu complications every year, but 500
die of "SARS" and suddenly a massive quarantine police
state crackdown ensues eliciting mass-hysteria,
madness, economic meltdown, cries for global
government, Big Brother cameras in the home, GPS
tracking bracelets and crushing human rights
violations. This is no accident, no act of nature.

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 http://www.news24.com/News24/World/Sars/0,,2-10-1488_1360065,00.html

Sneezing in public is a biological attack and the culprit will be treated as a terrorist.

Beijing - China upped the stakes in the fight against
Sars on Thursday, threatening to execute or jail for
life anyone who violates quarantine restrictions and
spreads the disease.

The interpretation of the country's infectious
diseases law, issued by the Supreme People's Court and
the Supreme People's Procuratorate, went into effect
on May 13, but was publicised in full in Thursday's
Legal Daily.

"Intentionally spreading sudden contagious disease
pathogens that endangers public security or leads to
serious personal injury, death or heavy loss of public
or private property will be punishable by 10 years to
life imprisonment or the death penalty," Xinhua news
agency said of the ruling.

The World Health Organisation immediately expressed
concern that the draconian law could be
counterproductive as it would deter possible Sars
patients from going to hospital.

"There is a fine balance with this kind of disease
where you need to isolate and quarantine patients, but
if you are too heavy handed it may end up only
stigmatising people," said WHO spokesperson Mangai
Balasegaram.

The drastic move came as the epidemic showed further
signs of abating with the lowest reported number of
new cases since the government ended a nearly
five-month attempt at covering up the crisis on April
20.

Mass public campaign

Four new deaths and 52 new cases took the cumulative
nationwide tallies to 271 and 5 163 respectively.

Beijing, the worst hit city in the world, also
recorded its lowest number of cases (27) since April
20, to take its total to 2 388 and 140 dead.

With the economy taking a beating from Sars, the
government has embarked on a mass public campaign
aimed at eradicating a disease that originated in
southern Guangdong province in November.

The threat of death or jail appears to be part of
those measures and came as government officials voiced
confidence they could keep the disease from spreading
to the vast countryside.

"The potential risk and transmission routes for Sars
spreading to rural areas clearly exist," said Liu
Jian, head of the task force of rural affairs for the
National Sars Prevention and Control Headquarters.

"However we have taken various and vigorous measures
to prevent Sars spreading into the countryside."

China liberally uses the death penalty, executing more
people each year than the rest of the world combined,
according to Amnesty International.

The new ruling appeared similar to a July 1999
interpretation of China's criminal law, in which the
judiciary determined that vague references in the law
to "evil cults" formed the legal basis to a nationwide
crackdown on the Falungong spiritual group.

Negligent health officials

According to the ruling, people with or suspected of
carrying contagious diseases, who refuse medical
exams, isolation or treatment and pass on the disease
unintentionally can be sentenced from three to seven
years.

Negligent health officials found guilty of allowing a
disease to spread can be imprisoned for up to three
years, it said.

China has already sacked its health minister and the
mayor of Beijing, as well as hundreds of other lower
level officials for failing to properly address the
outbreak or implement preventative measures.

Despite the ruling only taking affect this week,
Chinese police have already been busy.

Police in Inner Mongolia last week arrested a man who
infected six family members with Sars, including his
father who died, for "obstructing the prevention of
infectious diseases," after he escaped from
quarantine.

The man, Li Song, is believed to be the first formally
charged in China for escaping from Sars quarantine,
while three men who escaped a Beijing Sars isolation
centre were arrested in neighbouring Hebei and
returned to hospital after police set up a huge
dragnet.

Police have also arrested Internet "rumour-mongers"
for spreading false information on Sars, while the
state press has been full of stories on police
crackdowns and raids on people selling fake or shoddy
medicine and medical products.