Chinese Warned to Come Clean on SARS

BEIJING — Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao demanded Friday that officials at all levels of government tell everything they know about severe acute respiratory syndrome, and he threatened severe punishment for any official who covers up cases or delays information.

As efforts to fight the disease continued, hundreds of thousands of Hong Kong residents, from housewives to senior officials, took to the streets today for a two-day cleanup, and Vietnam’s state media reported that the nation’s health authority proposed temporarily shutting the country’s northern land border with China.

“Anyone who covers up SARS cases or delays the release of information will be harshly punished, as this matter concerns the people’s health and safety,” the English-language China Daily quoted Wen as saying.

He spoke after the nine-man Communist Party Politburo Standing Committee ordered an all-out war against SARS, which first appeared in the southern Chinese province of Guangdong in November.

The committee promised a battle against the disease after China was criticized widely for halfhearted cooperation as SARS spread to more than 20 countries, killed 172 people and infected nearly 3,500 others.

The disease, which has no known cure, leaped first to Hong Kong. The death toll there is even higher than mainland China’s -- 69 against 67 -- and almost as many people, more than 1,300, have contracted SARS.

The government urged every one of Hong Kong’s 7 million people to take part in the cleanup, which will include cleansing and disinfecting streets, parks, shops, restaurants and homes.

In addition to the proposed border closing in Vietnam, air and sea travelers from SARS-infected countries would be required to present health certificates upon arrival. The proposals have been submitted to the prime minister for approval, officials from the Ministry of Health said.