The State Council Information Office has held a press conference to brief SARS prevention in rural areas. 

The measures China has taken to prevent the spread of the severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS) in rural areas are effective, said officials Thursday at a press conference.

Liu Jian, vice minister of agriculture said the Chinese government has shown great concern over the SARS situation in rural areas and made various efforts to contain the spread of SARS and maintain the stability in countryside through interaction between urban and rural areas and by integrating resources across departments, including to forbid personnel exchange between affected cities with countryside and to improve the capability to accept and treat SARS patients in rural areas.

Qi Xiaoqiu, director of the disease control department under the Ministry of Health, said China is undoubtedly capable of containing SARS with the three-level medical network of county, town, and village levels and the one million medical workers in rural areas.

The rural medical workers have successfully checked the spread of various epidemics in the past, Qi said.