This is NEWS Plus Special English. I'm Mark Griffiths in Beijing. Here is the news.
China's National Health and Family Planning Commission has urged local health departments to strengthen prevention and control work against H7N9 avian flu as more cases were reported recently.
The commission has convened a meeting to discuss measurements preventing and controlling H7N9. Officials from the health departments and disease control from Shanghai and other regions attended the meeting.
The commission urged local health departments to make coordinated efforts with other related departments to implement prevention and control measures, and strengthen epidemic surveillance and risk assessment.
It has called for controlling the epidemic at the source, as well as health education and information publicity, so as to ensure a safe Spring Festival holiday.
More than 40 human cases of H7N9 have been reported in Shanghai and several other provinces in eastern and southern China. A 31-year-old doctor died of the disease on January 18th in Shanghai.
The commission says it has strengthened coordination with the Ministry of Agriculture, the State Administration for Industry and Commerce, and the China Food and Drug Administration to control H7N9.
China's traffic police have issued safety tips for the Spring Festival travel rush.
As people rush back home for family reunions in the traditional Lunar New Year, the number of road passengers every day exceeds 90 million, with more traffic accidents being reported.
Traffic police say among accidents that resulted in several fatalities in Beijing, two thirds involved vehicles traveling from outside the city. The major reasons were fatigue driving and unfamiliarity with roads.
Two thirds of accidents occurred on expressways for the reasons of rear-end collisions, speeding, and failing to keep safe distance.
Traffic police urged drivers to check vehicle conditions before driving, know the roadmaps and weather information, and avoid fatigues driving and speeding.
It also warned passenger not to travel with the buses that operating illegally, and avoid overloading.
