SARS: Mandatory health cards, temperature screening in Asian airports CLARK SPECIAL ECONOMIC ZONE, Philippines (AP) =97 Asian airport officials=20 adopted a series of measures Friday to prevent the spread of SARS by air=20 travel, including mandatory health declaration cards and temperature=20 screening of all passengers. The measures will be implemented throughout Asia's airports, using=20 standardized forms and procedures. Representatives from the 10-member=20 Association of Southeast Asian Nations were joined by airport officials=20 from China, Japan and South Korea at the two-day meeting. The officials=20 agreed to have standardized health declaration cards for departing=20 passengers by June 15. They will include the name, nationality, passport=20 number and flight information of a departing passenger, in addition to=20 questions about possible contact with a SARS-infected person and if the=20 passenger stayed in a SARS-infected country or has a fever. Temperature screening for departing travelers will be implemented by Aug.=20 15, according to a resolution at the end of the meeting. On arrival, only=20 the passengers from SARS-affected countries will be screened again for=20 temperature. Edgardo Manda, general manager of Manila's Ninoy Aquino=20 International Airport, said Japanese delegates asked to be exempted from=20 immediately implementing temperature screening because they needed to=20 consult officials in Tokyo. Japanese delegate Emiko Iwasaki told reporters Japan could not immediately= =20 implement the measure because it is illegal there to force somebody to have= =20 fever checked. All the countries agreed that passengers suspected of SARS=20 would be quarantined and placed under medical treatment but that they would= =20 not be denied entry into any country in the region. Manda said the=20 agreement to allow entry to a possible SARS-infected person was a "very=20 significant" achievement. He said deporting a potential SARS case would=20 lead to a more complicated situation in which the virus could spread among= =20 passengers of the aircraft returning the person to their country of origin,= =20 which could prompt a quarantine of everyone on the plane. Qi Xiuqin, deputy= =20 director general of China's inspection and quarantine agency, said "there=20 is no problem implementing" the measures. Yam Kum Weng, airport management director for Singapore, said ASEAN has=20 established a "solid protocol" to contain the disease that will boost=20 confidence in air travel in the region. "That will be a powerful message to= =20 send to the international community," he said. "We give assurance that=20 people passing through the airports are properly screened." Other measures= =20 agreed upon include customs priority clearance for medical equipment and=20 supplies for SARS-related purposes; use of the WHO guidelines on the=20 treatment of passengers suspected of SARS; and regular exchanges of=20 information among ASEAN countries to facilitate "contact tracing" for=20 people who may have been come in contact with a SARS-infected person. Manda said since not all countries are financially capable of installing=20 expensive thermal machines for temperature screening, the delegates agreed= =20 on "acceptable" alternatives such as disposable thermometers, thermo strips= =20 or infrared devices. Although no sanctions will be imposed on countries that fail to implement=20 the measures, meeting participants are aware that the resolution "is=20 something that will always haunt them" to implement the agreement, he said.= =20 The International Air Transport Association says SARS has caused more=20 damage to the global airline industry than the Sept. 11 attacks and the war= =20 in Iraq combined. Thomas Andrew Drysdale, IATA Asia-Pacific regional=20 director, said the association expects a loss of $10 billion this year. *************************************************** The owner of Roger's Trinbago Site/TnTisland.com Roj (Roger James) escape email mailto:ejames@xxxxxxxxx Trinbago site: www.tntisland.com Carib Brass Ctn site www.tntisland.com/caribbeanbrassconnection/ Steel Expressions www.mts.net/~ejames/se/ Site of the Week: http://www.cso.gov.tt TnT Webdirectory: http://search.co.tt *********************************************************