East Asia steps up SARS cooperation
East Asia steps up SARS cooperation
Eileen Ng, Agence France-Presse, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia
East Asian countries including China agreed Saturday to coordinate their battle against SARS and called for strict screening at exit points to bar suspected carriers from leaving.
Health ministers laying the groundwork for an extraordinary SARS summit on Tuesday in Bangkok issued a communique urging their governments to devote enough resources to fight the "global threat" posed by the disease.
The call to action was made by the 10-member Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) and key partners China, Japan and South Korea as the World Health Organization (WHO) warned that no one carrying the virus must be allowed to move freely.
"We cannot afford to miss a single person," WHO regional director Shigeru Omi told the special meeting on Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome, an extreme form of pneumonia for which there is no cure or vaccine.
The SARS death toll is inching towards 300 with more than 5,000 cases in over two dozen countries. The most badly affected areas are China, Hong Kong, Singapore and Canada.
The ministers stressed that "even one single infectious case can lead into a serious outbreak unless rigorous measures are taken" and vowed to "ensure that persons suspected of SARS should not be allowed to travel."
Authorities at airports, seaports, river ports and land entry points were told to collaborate with healthcare workers to undertake stringent pre-departure screening of passengers for international travel.
SARS suspects are to be referred promptly to health care facilities, and persons who have been in contact with them are to be put under surveillance.
The countries will make it mandatory for all travelers from affected countries to fill up SARS health declaration forms. They will also disinfect aircraft and institute in-flight management of suspected SARS cases who develop symptoms on board.
"We are at a crossroads. What we decide today and at the heads of state meeting on Tuesday will determine the future course of this outbreak," the WHO's Omi told the ministers.
"We must be absolutely relentless in our search for every possible SARS case. We must use every weapon at our disposal. The world is watching us."
The disease erupted in southern China in November but only became recognized as a major health threat last month. Beijing has been widely criticized for failing to make a full disclosure of the outbreak until it began spreading rapidly overseas.
In the six weeks since the WHO issued a global health alert on March 12, the disease has caused widespread panic and economic disruption in affected countries.
Deputy Health Minister Huang Jiefu gave an overview of the SARS situation in China, which was commended for its increased transparency and cooperation.
Following international criticism of China's initial response to SARS, Health Minister Zhang Wenkang has resigned and Beijing mayor Meng Xuenong sacked for an apparent cover-up.
The joint communique issued Saturday said an expert group would evaluate a proposal to set up an ASEAN center for disease control.
Thailand was tasked to strengthen capacity building for epidemiological surveillance, Indonesia to explore using the Internet to boost exchange of information, and Malaysia to strengthen laboratory capacity and quality assurance for disease surveillance.