Katherine Albrecht
Fight SARS, Pay With Cards Card Technology
Sun Jun 22 01:21:57 2003
208.152.73.62

Fight SARS, Pay With Cards Card Technology
http://www.cardtechnology.com/cgi-bin/readstory.pl?story=20030616CTDN912.xml

Aiming to reduce the use of bills that might carry the SARS virus,
Beijing authorities are encouraging consumers to pay with bank cards,
according to the Smart Card Forum of China. The trade association’s
newsletter says the Beijing Commercial Administration is offering
rewards to consumers based on the amount of their purchases with cards.
The association says bank card volume was up 100% in May compared to the
same month last year, with the number of point-of-sale terminals
deployed in China’s capital rising by 2,000, to 8,400 terminals. The
association predicts there will be 20,000 POS devices deployed in
Beijing by year’s end. Beijing has been hard hit in recent months by
severe acute respiratory syndrome, or SARS.

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Scientists disagree on SARS transmission
Last Updated Sat, 14 Jun 2003 13:46:37
http://www.cbc.ca/stories/2003/06/14/sars_030614

The current thinking about SARS is that transmission requires close
contact with the nose or throat secretions of an infected, symptomatic
person.

In Toronto, a Canadian and global SARS hot spot, virtually all
transmission of the disease has taken place in hospitals.

Research has shown the SARS virus can live on surfaces for several days
and can be carried in human feces.

• Biowar will spawn the cashless society? — James Northstar, Sun Jun 22 01:49