Malaysia to conduct quarantine similar to that during SARS scare

Special Report: World Tackles Swine Flu

KUALA LUMPUR, April 28 (Xinhua) -- Malaysia is expected to take quarantine
action similar to that conducted in 2003 against the Severe Acute Respiratory
Syndrome (SARS) as a move to increase health surveillance due to the swine flu
outbreak, according to Malaysia Airlines (MAS) here on Tuesday.

The Malaysian Health Ministry will be screening passengers arriving from
Los Angeles and New York of the United States for any obvious symptoms of the
virus, the Malaysian national carrier said.

"Quarantine action will be done if necessary, similar to the procedure
adopted during SARS scare in 2003, " said MAS operation director Tajuden Abu
Bakar in a statement released here.

Malaysia Airlines will assist in expediting the process as this exercise
will invariably cause some inconvenience, especially for passengers with
connecting flights, Tajuden said.

Tajuden also said that currently MAS had not seen a drop in travel demand
and it was still operating as normal.

Meanwhile, Tajuden said that MAS allowed its passengers already booked for
travel to Los Angeles or New York to make changes to their flights at no charge
from now until the end of May 2009.