China's local health departments have been authorized by the
Ministry of Health (MOH)?to independently release reports of
major epidemics and public health incidents from Tuesday.
Local health departments should implement the report-releasing
plan made by MOH and provide timely and concise information to the
public, said the ministry.
Health authorities in provinces, autonomous regions and
municipalities should provide weekly or even daily updates to the
public if required, it said.
Early warnings of public health incidents should be announced
without delay, it added.
All the information to be released must be reported to MOH
before being made public, so that?it can
inform?neighboring regions, Hong Kong, Macao, Taiwan as well
as international organizations, the ministry noted.
MOH used to be solely responsible for releasing information on
epidemics and emerging public health events, such as SARS, HIV/AIDS
and bird flu.
(Xinhua News Agency March 22, 2006)