But Liu Baocheng, a former SARS patient, was instead met by police and taken directly into custody as soon as he stepped out of a hospital in his hometown of Tanghe County, Henan Province, central China.

The man was detained on the charge of deliberately spreading the virus of severe acute respiratory syndrome among the public, since he had fled hospital treatment twice in north China's Shanxi Province and returned to his hometown by train.

In April, Liu, a farmer, was found infected by SARS in Taiyuan, Shanxi's capital, where he worked as a transient laborer.

On April 19, Liu made his first escape from a Taiyuan hospital, but he was caught by police and taken from a passenger train headed for his hometown. He was sent to a local hospital in Linfen City, Shanxi.

On April 23, the patient broke a window and ran away from the hospital, returning to his hometown by train on the morning of April 24.

All his movements were monitored by the police. Liu was caught once again and hospitalized in Tanghe, shortly after his return.

Later, the local quarantine station and police bureau of Tanghe conducted a joint investigation and confirmed that Liu had violated the law.

The man had had contact with 19 people on the train and 20 people in his hometown, according to the investigation. All of these innocent people have been put under medical quarantine for observation.

According to a recent Supreme People's Court decree, those who spread the epidemic deliberately could be granted jail terms of 10 years or more, or even the death penalty if they cause a large number of deaths.

(Xinhua News Agency May 21, 2003)