ASEAN, China, To Examine Those Coming And Going

China, along with the nations of Southeast Asia, have decided to get more aggressive in checking airline passengers for the dreaded respiratory disease SARS by checking all incoming and outgoing passengers and posting medical experts at every point of embarkation and debarkation.

"Entry-exit travellers are to accept temperature screening checks and necessary medical inquiry for SARS, or Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome, and complete a health declaration card," the official Xinhua news agency quoted the action plan as saying.

Five ASEAN members - Singapore, Malaysia, Indonesia, the Philippines, Thailand and Vietnam - have reported SARS cases. ASEAN also includes Brunei, Cambodia, Myanmar and Laos. Taiwan and China have also reported extensive SARS outbreaks.

Travel Impact

Asia's biggest travel agency, ABACUS, confirmed some of the airline industry's worst fears last week by saying travel to and from Asia had dropped 20 percent between January and April. ABACUS says bookings are starting to pick up, but the airline industry in particular and the travel industry as a whole in Asia have already been deeply impacted. "While most of the markets are still well below pre-SARS levels, bookings by travellers from Asia to Europe and Asia to the Middle East have nearly returned to pre-SARS levels," said ABACUS International in a statement on Thursday. "The latter has as much to do with the end of the war in Iraq as it does with SARS."

FMI: www.aseansec.org, www.abacus.com.sg, www.iata.org