Singapore screens air passengers for SARS

<A HREF=iol.co.za>SOURCE March 31 2003 at 10:49AM

Singapore - Authorities on Monday began screening incoming passengers at the Changi International Airport in an attempt to contain the spread of a killer pneumonia virus, the government said.

Passengers from countries listed by the World Health Organisation (WHO) as affected areas will be screened by nurses stationed at Changi, the Civil Aviation Authority of Singapore (CAAS) said.

The WHO has listed Singapore, Toronto, Hanoi, Hong Kong, Taiwan and the Chinese cities of Beijing, Shanxi and Guangdong as affected areas.

Singapore is one of the areas affected by the mysterious severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS), with the number of reported cases now standing at 91 - with three dead.

Authorities have enforced tough measures to halt the spread of SARS"To minimise the import of SARS cases, Singapore is stepping up health screening procedures for passengers arriving at Changi Airport from affected countries," the CAAS said in a statement.

"This is in view of new index cases that are traced to people who have travelled overseas," it said.

The spread of SARS on the island nation of four million has been traced to three original "index cases" involving Singaporean women who had visited Hong Kong.

Last week a fourth index case, also a woman who was in Hong Kong, was tracked down. On Sunday, health authorities said there was a fifth case of SARS contracted outside of Singapore after a 17-year-old Indonesian male student visited Guangdong and Hong Kong with his brother and parents on March 15.

Authorities have enforced tough measures to halt the spread of SARS by closing schools up to the pre-university level until April 6 and serving quarantine orders on at least 800 households.

The mysterious illness has now infected more than 1 600 people in 15 countries and killed at least 59 people. It erupted in southern China, spread to Hong Kong and has been taken worldwide by airline passengers. - Sapa-AFP