The two types of flu virus found so far this year are of little difference from last year's. So currently available flu vaccines should prove effective this time, said Wu Jiang, an expert with the Beijing Municipal Station of Health and Epidemic Prevention.

According to China Daily, a new survey showed that 20 percent of all outpatient illnesses in Beijing have involved upper respiratory tract infections in recent days.

But that is common for winter. The current situation does not necessarily mean a burst of influenza, Wu said.

Beijing suffered mightily from the flu in 1998-99, when at least 1 million people, or 10 percent of its population, caught the bug from November to January, according to official statistics.

The municipal health department reduced the price of flu vaccines the next year through bidding and then promoted vaccines among the public.

The Beijing Municipal Station of Health and Epidemic Prevention conduct inspections for the flu virus every year from October to March.

No large-scale burst of flu has occurred in the capital since the 1998-99 crisis.

(People's Daily December 12, 2001)