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Northern cold front sends mercury plunging
By Qin Jize (China Daily)
Updated: 2004-10-21 00:14
The final days of warm autumn will be met with winter-like weather in the
northern and northeastern parts of China over the next two days.
A Siberian cold front moving eastward across the eastern parts of Northwest
China, North China and Northeast China beginning today, is expected to send
temperatures plummeting 4 to 8 degrees C from Wednesday's average temperature of
20 degree C, a China Central Meteorological Observatory forecaster said.
The mercury is expected to drop 10 to 12 degrees C in Northeast China's
Liaoning and Jilin provinces.
The cold spell began to affect Chinese capital Beijing last night, with
today's temperature expected to drop four to six Celsius degrees on the average
with moderate winds.
"The temperature will go up slightly tomorrow and maintain a high of about
20degrees C," said Chen Dagang, a forecaster with the local meteorological
observatory.
However, that temperature won't hang around long since another cold front is
expected to sweep into the capital on Sunday, bringing with it another burst of
cold air.
Little chance of rain is forecast, but winds of force three to four are
expected, forecasters said.
The end of warm weather means cold and flu season has dawned.
Hospital officials are reporting an influx of patients feeling under the
weather, however, well within the normal flow expected of this time of year.
"Flu and colds are just more common in winter months because that's when the
virus spreads," said Wang Ying, director of respiratory department of Anzhen
Hospital in Beijing.
People are more likely to catch colds when the temperature changes
dramatically, she said.
"Most of the symptoms patients are showing are of the common cold and there
is no sign of the flu yet," she added.
With the recent news that British regulators have shut down a flu vaccine
plant based in Liverpool, England, which belongs to US company Chiron, due to
contamination, fears of inadequate levels of vaccine have left some consumers
questioning its safety.
Official with Beijing Centre for Disease Prevention and Control on Tuesday
assured the public that all flu vaccines are safe for use and there is an
adequate supply in the market, reported Beijing Morning Post.
Wu Jiang, senior official with Beijing CDC, said the city has not found any
contaminated flu vaccine and has prepared 1.2 million doses of vaccine,
providing an adequate supply to Beijing residents.
He said Beijing has imported flu vaccines from the Italian production base of
Chiron, which is different from the contaminated vaccine appearing in US drug
stores.
Moreover, the State Food and Drug Administration has set a high threshold for
medical products imported from the foreign countries so as to safeguard highly
reliable quality.
Beijing formally started flu vaccine shots on September 13 and so far a total
of 400,000 people have received the shots.
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