14,000 medical staff sent to disaster-affected areas

BEIJING, Jan. 30 (Xinhua) -- China's Ministry of Health on Wednesday announced that about 14,000 medical staff have been dispatched to treat the sick and injured in areas worst affected by the severe winter disaster.

The personnel in 2,923 groups will work in Anhui, Jiangxi, Hunan, Hubei, Sichuan and Guizhou provinces as well as Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region and Chongqing Municipality.

Minister of Health Chen Zhu and Deputy Minister Gao Qiang have ordered public health administrations to carefully implement the state medical procedures and rescue emergency response plans to ensure timely treatment for the ill and injured.

Local health administrations should also ensure food and drinking water safety.

The authorities have delivered 3.45 million brochures to people in disaster-affected areas to raise awareness of disease prevention and advise on how to deal with the weather.

Tens of millions of people in central and south China's 14 provinces, municipalities and autonomous regions are suffering the heaviest snow and sleet and the coldest temperatures in five decades.

On Wednesday morning, the Ministry of Public Security and Ministry of Communications jointly issued a circular saying that expressways nationwide should not be "randomly" closed.

BEIJING, Jan. 28 (Xinhua) -- Chinese authorities have spared no effort in combating snow-inflicted woes and reducing the negative impact to the least extent as volatile weather continued to rage in a dozen Chinese regions on Monday. Full story

BEIJING, Jan. 28 (Xinhua) -- Heavy snow has killed 24 people in China since Jan. 10, the Ministry of Civil Affairs said here on Monday. Full story

BEIJING, Jan. 28 (Xinhua) -- Coal shortages have closed down more power stations with an aggregate capacity of up to 40.99 million kilowatts, said the State Electricity Regulatory Commission (SERC) on Monday. Full story

SHANGHAI, Jan. 28 (Xinhua) -- Four expressways in Shanghai were closed Monday because of continuing heavy snowfalls in the past three days, according to the local authority. Full story

BEIJING, Jan. 28 (Xinhua) -- The China Meteorological Administration (CMA) early Monday issued a red alert for severe snowstorms forecast for central and eastern China.

Heavy snow is set to blanket northern Hunan, eastern Hubei, southeastern Henan, northwestern Zhejiang as well as most areas of Anhui and Jiangsu provinces on Monday, while some of these areas will expect snowstorms, according to the CMA.