Airports clamp down on SARS virus

The Herald Sun By MANDI ZONNEVELDT, health reporter 02apr03

FLIGHTS coming into Australia will be forced to get quarantine clearance in a bid to prevent the deadly SARS virus spreading here.

From today, pilots will have to declare whether they are carrying passengers with flu-like symptoms before they land.

Commonwealth Chief Medical Officer Professor Richard Smallwood announced the move as Australia confirmed its first suspected case of Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome.

The suspected victim recovered before the World Health Organisation issued its alert last month.

The man, a British tourist in his 60s, was treated at a Sydney hospital and stayed in Australia for 10 days but did not spread the disease.

Officials made the diagnosis retrospectively and notified WHO.

Professor Smallwood said Australians need not be alarmed.

"Be aware that SARS is not in Australia yet," Professor Smallwood said.

"That one case is all we've seen but it hasn't spread in Australia," he said. "There is no risk to anyone in Australia as a result of (the sick man) being in the country."

Professor Smallwood said that people who arrived in Australia with SARS symptoms would not be turned away.

He said they would receive medical treatment with an appropriate level of infection control to stop the disease spreading.

The world-wide death toll from SARS is now 62. More than than 1700 people have been infected.

Three Australians with SARS symptoms, two in Sydney and one in Canberra, were being investigated by health officials.

The WHO revealed yesterday that the virus may have originated in farm animals in southern China.

Hitoshi Oshitani, a WHO expert in communicable diseases, said many emerging diseases came from viruses crossing species barriers.

The spread of SARS across the globe has caused panic.

Qantas, Singapore Airlines and Cathay Pacific will make masks available to passengers and crew on flights out of Asia.

Melbourne pharmacies have been struggling to keep up with the demand for the masks.

Health officials said yesterday there was no evidence the masks prevented disease spread.

Tooronga Village pharmacist Andrew Robinson expects a delivery of masks tomorrow.

"We normally do one or two a month," he said.

He sold out a week ago.

"We keep some, but we've had so many inquiries. It's really freaking people out," he said.

Australians have been warned to reconsider travel to Hong Kong, China, Singapore and Vietnam, with hundreds cancelling trips.

Other countries, including the US and Canada, have warned their citizens not to travel to those countries.

The disease has also affected Australian staff and businesses in Asia.

Australian companies with Asian branches, particularly those in Singapore and Hong Kong, have suspended non-essential travel and asked staff to work from home in a bid to stem potential outbreaks.