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| HK starts outbound air passenger SARS checks |
| CCTV.COM 2003-04-18 09:04:50 |
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Since Thursday, all passengers flying out of Hong Kong International Airport now have to pass a body temperature check. The measure is part of the government's strategy to contain the spread of SARS.
Here in the departure hall of Hong Kong International Airport, the check－in area is fenced in by iron railings. One entrance and one exit are open for each set of counters and regions. All departing passengers are required to take a SARS test before being allowed to check in, ensuring that Hong Kong does not export any further cases of the deadly virus.
The tests are being carried out by volunteers from the Auxiliary Medical Service. They're working around the clock in three shifts. The volunteers take the temperature of outbound passengers by simply pressing a pen－shaped thermometer into the passenger's ear. The process takes seconds and anybody with a temperature higher than 38 degrees Celsius has to seek medical advice. Double－checks are made. If a passenger has a fever or symptoms suggestive of SARS, he or she cannot board the plane.
This volunteer says the travellers have been very cooperative and she hasn't come across anybody with a fever in her half a day on the job.
The service's regional commander outlines what happens when a passenger is detected to have an elevated temperature.
Wan Chi－Keung, regional commander of Auxiliary Medical Services in Hong Kong, said: "If a passenger has a fever and airport doctors are able to prove that his fever is not related to SARS, he can board the plane. But if the fever is associated with SARS, he cannot board the plane."
The commander says further medical checks are also available at the airport for passengers with suspected SARS infections. The measure, he stresses, is to ensure that people with a fever or SARS symptoms receive appropriate medical attention before leaving Hong Kong. But the test is not effective in the case of an infected SARS patient not showing any sign of the disease.
The measure is in line with World Health Organisation travel advice that people departing affected areas should be screened for SARS at the point of departure. The Hong Kong government is considering extending the test to cover incoming passengers and those traveling across land and sea.
As of Thursday, Hong Kong's cumulative total of SARS patients stood at 1297.Two hundred and seventy－two of those people have recovered but 65 have died.
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Editor: Zhao Xuan CCTV.com
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