On the eve of National Day, a circular from the Beijing municipal government urged universities in the capital to be on the alert for a possible SARS recurrence and to take all necessary precautions.

The Central University of Finance and Economics, one of the few universities most heavily hit by SARS in the capital this spring, is particularly cautious about a resurgence of the disease.

Between April 9 and May 6 this year, 19 people at the university, none of them students, were suspected of having SARS or were identified cases. Between April 24 and May 8, over 200 residents in the No 29 dormitory building of the university were quarantined.

"We've had a bitter lesson, so we know it is wise to take serious preventive measures," said Liang Yong, assistant to the university's president.

The university has been purchasing and stockpiling protective suits, thermographs and disinfectants, even though they still have some supplies left over from the epidemic period.

A SARS ambulance, supplied to the university this spring by the Ministry of Education, is still at the university hospital.

The university has transformed a classroom next to the hospital into first-level isolation wards with eight beds. The university has also invested 2 million yuan (US$242,000) to purchase necessary medical equipment. Any suspected SARS patients can be quickly and conveniently isolated in the temporary wards.

It is the painful experience in the spring that has pushed the university to adopt these early preventative measures.

"During the early stages of the SARS epidemic, we were at a loss what to do," said Liang, "There was no ambulance available to send the patients to the hospital. And even when they got there, the hospitals did not have adequate facilities to take care of them. Also, there was nowhere that the required disinfectants and other necessities could be purchased."

Since National Day, a stricter control on outsiders entering the campus has been introduced. They are required to register at the university gates before they enter. The students and teachers who leave the campus must also produce their identity cards when re-entering the university, although body temperature checks are not carried out at the gate.

"If the capital reports any cases of SARS or any suspected cases are identified on campus, body temperature checks will be implemented and the gates may even be shut to outsiders," said Liang.

The dustbins and toilets on campus are disinfected two or three times a week. From now on, the university will increase the frequency of inspecting its sanitary conditions, including those of the university hospital, where medical workers already wear facial masks.

A recent survey of the students carried out by the university authorities shows that most of them still have their SARS pamphlets, which indicates that they are aware that SARS might well resurface in the capital. 

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