Measures strict but visitors not barred

The southern province which is the gateway to China for most Africans has no plans to reduce or limit the number of visitors from the continent.

Guangzhou, capital of Guangdong province, is host to highest population of Africans in the country and is the preferred destination for African businesspeople, students and tourists.

"No Ebola cases have been detected in Guangzhou, and Guangdong province has conducted tests on a few dozen people coming from the Ebola-hit countries and regions, and all results were negative," says Xie Xiaodan, vice-mayor of Guangzhou.

"So there is no need to introduce any measure to reduce or limit the number of people from Africa coming to Guangzhou, known for its opening up to the outside world and great tolerance.

"Many businesspeople in Guangzhou, including those from Africa, have contributed to the city's rapid economic development."

He urged the city's police, exit and entry, and health departments to provide even better service to any foreigners who arrive in the city lawfully, to apply for work permits, prolong visas or go through related entry and exit procedures while taking effective measures to prevent Ebola from spreading and to detect or stop illegal immigration.

At the same time, government departments have been told to prepare to fight any outbreak of Ebola in the city.

Lin Shaochun, vice-governor of Guangdong province, says Guangdong, which has now become a frontline region in preventing Ebola from spreading in the Chinese mainland, is going all out to stop the virus from entering the province.

The Guangdong Center for Disease Control and Prevention says the province - which has the largest number of people from Africa among all jurisdictions in China, and the largest number of air connections with the continent - has expanded body temperature tests on those arriving from Ebola-hit countries and regions. The arrival points include airports and railway stations. Those with a fever undergo blood tests and are isolated for medical observation, the disease prevention and control center says.

"Guangdong will never relax its vigilance for Ebola," Lin told a conference recently.

The province's close ties with Africa raise the chances of Ebola first being detected in Guangdong if it reaches the country, he said.

Guangdong, which borders Hong Kong and Macao special administrative regions, is one of the most populous regions in the mainland, with more than 100 million people.

Lin, who is in charge of public health in Guangdong, is also director of the special task force to prevent the spread of Ebola in the province. It includes police officers, officials from entry-exit inspection and quarantine bureaus, medical staff and experts. It was set up in August.

Over the past few months, Zhu Xiaodan, the governor of Guangdong, Li Chunsheng, the vice-governor and concurrently director-general of Guangdong provincial department of public security, and Lin have inspected Guangzhou Baiyun International Airport, and major ports, railway stations, bus terminals, the province's center for disease prevention and control and hospitals to inspect the anti-Ebola work.

The city's entry and exit department says 5.26 million non-Chinese entered and left the mainland by way of Guangzhou ports last year. Of those, 530,000 come from African countries or regions.

In the first nine months of this year 3.53 million foreigners, including 430,000 Africans, entered and left the mainland by way of Guangzhou ports.

Xie Xiaodan says anyone arriving at Guangzhou Baiyun International Airport, including domestic residents, from countries where there have been many cases of Ebola is being provided with a special bag containing a mobile phone, a clinical thermometer, a gauze mask and a handbook on anti-Ebola measures.

"In addition to measuring body temperatures daily for three weeks, the passengers from the Ebola-hit countries and regions are required to have their mobile phones switched on around the clock and report their symptoms if they fall ill," Xie says.

"Neighborhood committee personnel have also expanded inspections of those who come from Ebola-hit countries and those who have been to West Africa to prevent the deadly virus from spreading in the city, which is an important commercial center in South China."

The virus usually has an incubation period of as long as 21 days, Xie says.

The province has designated 27 hospitals to help handle any Ebola cases, and medical staff have received special training.

"Guangzhou No 8 People's Hospital, a designated hospital to fight Ebola, has added ambulances, and related medical equipment and gauze masks to fight possible Ebola cases, and doctors and medical staff have received special training for virus," Xie says.

There are as many as 190 Guangzhou-Africa, Africa-Guangzhou flights every month, carrying more than 45,000 passengers. And every day the number of passengers who arrive in Guangdong from the Ebola-hit regions account for more than 60 percent of the mainland's total. There are four direct flights and another 14 indirect to the African continent every week from Guangzhou alone.

But the city's close connections with Africa far predate modern transport, going back to ancient Chinese dynasties. As an important starting point of the ancient Maritime Silk Road, much of China's silk, ceramics and tea were sold to Africa, Southeast Asia and Europe from Guangzhou by way of the sea route.

Xie Xiaodan has promised that government departments in the city will never launch any campaign or operation against those from anywhere in Africa as a result of the Ebola outbreak. Instead, the departments will offer even better services to foreigners, including Africans, who arrive in the city legitimately, he says.

Xie dismissed talk that Guangzhou has more than 600,000 people from Africa registered, and that this may lead to an outbreak of Ebola in the city.

Guangzhou has about 120,000 permanent foreign residents, including 16,000 from Africa, Xie says. They mainly live in the city's Dengfeng, Kuangquan, Taojin and Xinshi communities in the city's Baiyun and Yuexiu districts. Most go to Guangzhou for business, work, study, teaching and sightseeing.

"In fact, the city's foreign residents have contributed to Guangzhou's economic development and social stability in the past years."

The Ebola outbreak apparently took a toll on the latest China Import and Export Fair, which attracted 20 percent fewer African visitors compared with the previous fair, organizers say.

The fair, commonly known as Canton Fair, which is held in Guangzhou in spring and autumn, usually attracts many participants from around the world, including many from Africa. This autumn's event attracted 186,104 businesspeople from 211 countries and regions, down 1.07 percent from the previous event.

The fair, which was first held in Guangzhou in 1957, is the largest international trade fair in the Chinese mainland. At the fair, which opened on Oct 15 and ended on Nov 4, deals valued at 179.2 billion yuan ($29.3 billion) were clinched, a reduction of 6.1 percent from the previous session.

Special equipment was set up at entrances to the fair to test body temperatures.

He Jianfeng, chief expert in the province's disease prevention center, urged locals not to worry too much about an outbreak of the virus in the province because effective precautions have been taken.

"Ebola can actually be prevented and controlled, even if death rates have been about 50 percent in the virus-hit countries and regions."

The main symptoms are fever, headache and diarrhea, he says.

Peng Peng, a researcher with Guangzhou Academy of Social Sciences, says officials should improve the management of the growing number of foreigners in the city and combat illegal immigration.

"But the legal interests and rights of those who arrive in Guangzhou with valid travel documents and visas should be protected."

Local residents have voiced mixed opinions about Ebola and how it relates to Guangzhou.

Chen Zhangmin, a white-collar worker, says there is nothing to be afraid of given that no Ebola cases have been reported in the province.

"Guangzhou does have a large number of people from Africa, but I imagine government departments have introduced effective measures to prevent and fight it. The city got a lot of experience in fighting SARS in 2003, and that will certainly help Guangzhou prevent and fight Ebola virus."

Wang Yongfeng, a housewife in the Baiyun district of Guangzhou, says she will reduce contact with anyone from Ebola-hit countries and regions and try to avoid being in crowded places.

"Of course, there can never be any guarantee that the virus will never surface in the city, no matter what preventive measures are taken," she says.

Xie Xiaodan says Guangzhou welcomes all foreigners who arrive in the city with valid travel documents and visas, but will spare no effort to fight illegal immigration.

To better serve the city's growing number of foreign residents, 75 special management and service centers have been set up in housing complexes that have registered more than 200 foreign residents across the city.

Guangzhou has registered 50 foreign volunteers who mainly serve the city's foreign residents in local neighborhood committees.

zhengcaixiong@chinadaily.com.cn

(China Daily Africa Weekly 11/07/2014 page6)