Beijing municipal service departments have stepped up efforts to contain the spread of severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS) and to back the city's overall prevention and treatment of the disease.

The Ministry of Construction, which is in charge of all municipal service sectors in China, said on Wednesday that Beijing's public transport sectors carried out daily disinfections of vehicles, including more than 21,000 buses with a daily capacity of 12 million passengers.

Public buses and taxis were required to keep windows open to let fresh air in and suspected SARS patients found in the long-distance buses would be taken to observation and examination rooms in bus stations.

The water supply sector tightened management and monitoring of waterworks and pipelines to ensure quality water for the 13 million residents of the Chinese capital.

Staff members of gas companies in the municipality worked overtime last week to provide adequate liquefied petroleum gas (LPG) because some small suburban gas stations had cut supplies to the downtown area due to the disease.

The ministry said the sale of LPG in Beijing had increased about 30 percent in the past five days, but there was no sign of supplies running low.

Construction sites in and around Beijing crowded with migrant workers were one of the government's top priorities in the fight against the epidemic, the ministry said, noting that the municipal construction department highlighted disinfections and anti-SARS education among these workers.

(Xinhua News Agency April 30, 2003)