Vietnam province bars Chinese tourists over SARS
HANOI - Vietnam's northern Quang Ninh
province, home of the Halong Bay tourist attraction, has begun
barring Chinese tourists at its land border gates and waterways
because of concerns over SARS, officials said on Wednesday.
"The border closure to Chinese tourists is necessary to control the
spread of SARS (Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome) but
business will be badly hurt," an official at provincial tourism
authority Quang Ninh Tourism Service told Reuters.
About 170,000 people entered Vietnam from China in the first
quarter, the largest number from any other country. The majority
entered via 31 land border gates, of which two are in Quang
Ninh.
The move by local authorities comes ahead of any decision by
Hanoi to seal its border with China indefinitely, as had been
recommended by the country's health ministry.
Worldwide, a total of 236 people have died from SARS, with
more than 4,200 infections. Of them, 97 have died in China and
five in Vietnam.
The World Health Organisation said on Wednesday that if no
new cases emerge by April 30 in Vietnam, the virus will be
considered contained. The last SARS case in the country was on
April 8.
Chinese traders are still allowed in at Quang Ninh, but only after
health checks at border checkpoints, border officials said.
They also said that Chinese immigration had started to bar
Vietnamese tourists from entering China, apparently in a
tit-for-tat reaction.
Reuters - April 23, 2003.
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