The situation in Guangdong seems to have stabilized somewhat in early May following an outbreak of SARS in earlier months. While there are new SARS cases every day, mostly in Guangzhou, the reported number has leveled off to about 10 a day on average.

Despite a public panic in February, residents in Guangdong now appear relatively calm in living their daily lives, although their social activities have been curtailed. Public venues such as movie theaters, karaoke clubs, health centers, and shopping malls are still open for business. Surprisingly, shops and restaurants still see rather brisk business although some customers may have chosen to stay away. The travel industry has been hit hard. Hotels that cater to customers from overseas only have occupancy rate at about 10-15%. Despite the threat of SARS, the Spring Canton Trade Fair went ahead in April as scheduled. As a result of a dramatic reduction in attendance from abroad, the Spring Trade Fair only led to contracts worth $4.42 billion, a drop of 74% from $16.85 billion at the Trade Fair a year ago. Other than allowing some employees and family members to leave China on a voluntary basis, foreign-invested companies in the Pearl River Delta did not seem to have altered their existing operations due to SARS. The epidemic has had more of an impact on the service sector than the manufacturing one, which is critical to the economy in the Pearl River Delta.

Meanwhile, provincial and local governments in Guangdong have taken aggressive measures to combat SARS. All large public gatherings have been postponed; school campuses are closed to outsiders; migrant workers have been told to not travel back to their hometowns. Companies have adopted policies discouraging business travel via public transportation, i.e., airplane, train, etc. The governments are under tremendous pressure to bring the situation under control soon. Guangdong, however, remains on WHO’s SARS travel advisory list as of May 12, 2003.