Airlines See No SARS Resurgence

[SkyBlazer]

Airlines See No SARS Resurgence In SE Asia

Candida Moraes

Mumbai, Sept 12: Airlines and tourism bodies in Hong Kong and Singapore have said that there is no reason to panic with signs of resurgence of Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome (SARS) in SE Asian countries.

An official from Singapore Airlines said that there is actually no real fear as this was an isolated case. He also said that there has been no panic calls for anybody as yet.

When contacted, a Cathay Pacific official said that its offices have not registered any calls from passengers or travel trade colleagues inquiring about the single SARS case in Singapore. The airline has remained vigilant since the outbreak of SARS and the precautionary measures that the company initiated early this year are still in place at the Hong Kong Airport.

“We would like to once again stress that SARS is spread by people and not via air travel. According to WHO, the risk of in-flight transmission is very low and there has been no reported cases of in-flight transmissions since effective screening measures were introduced in April in most SARS affected areas,” he added.

Hong Kong Tourism Board (HKTB) officials said that there is absolutely no panic. Infact, July arrivals into Hong Kong were 1.3 million and provisional figures for August predict 1.6 million visitors, (mid-August figures were at 800,000 ) considering the many special attractions of HKTB’s Hong Kong Welcomes You! Campaign. Singapore Tourism Board (STB) said: “STB is aware that a 27-year-old Chinese male Singaporean has been isolated at the Singapore Communicable Disease Centre. the health ministry has notified WHO of the incident and the details of the case. WHO has said that the case does not fulfill the case definition for SARS under the new WHO guidelines.”