BEIJING – Tibet was virtually cut-off as China sent SARS prevention teams into the Himalayan region and fears grew that the killer virus could wreak havoc if it took hold there.
The Xinhua news agency said China’s cabinet, the State Council, had sent a fifth SARS prevention and supervision team to help local authorities prepare for the possible onset of SARS in an area which is one of the few places in China reporting no cases.
Leaders of the central committee of the Communist Party and the State Council also recommended medicines and medical facilities be sent immediately.
On Monday, state press said Chinese tourist officials had enforced a ban on tour groups visiting the “roof of the world” for an indefinate period.
The Tibet Information Network said that since Sunday all international flights into and out of the region had been halted and that border-crossing points were completely sealed.
Trucks carrying supplies into Tibet were reportedly being stopped at border points, the network said, with goods like rice and other foodstuffs normally transported by road from China not reaching the capital Lhasa.
It described movement in the region as “paralysed”, creating “potentially disastrous” implications for the economy.
“Though it is too early to seriously assess the effects of the current situation on life in Tibet, it is certain that, should the crisis continue for even a few weeks, its consequences on the local economy will be disastrous,” said the network on its website.
“In particular tourism, which the authorities intend to make the ‘staple industry’ of Tibet as well as of most parts of Tibet, is likely to experience a very serious setback this year.
“Furthermore, manufacturing and trade activities are likely to collapse soon, depending as they do on the continuous supply of goods and machines from, and markets in, mainland China.”
According to official figures, the Tibetan economy outperformed all of the other western provinces of China in 2002.
China, which has ruled the strategically important area since 1951, has been accused of trying to wipe out its Buddhist-based culture through political and religious repression and a flood of ethnic Chinese immigration.
