EU Ministers Agree on Measures to Fight SARS

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Last updated at: (Beijing Time) Wednesday, May 07, 2003

EU Ministers Agree on Measures to Fight SARS

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European Union (EU) health ministers on Tuesday agreed in principle on a series of measures for containing severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS), which is posing threats to human health and the world economy.

At the emergency meeting in Brussels, health ministers from 15 EU member states, and 10 nations which will join the bloc next year, said a number of measures should be ensured particularly in combating SARS.

These included protection of hospital personnel treating the patients, provision of guidance and information to health care workers and the public, and "assistance, including information andscreening, to international travelers arriving or in transit from affected areas."

But officials said the EU as a whole backed away from a proposal to screen travelers from areas affected by the SARS virus,after taking advice from Gro Harlem Brundtland, director general of the World Health Organization (WHO).

The idea of screening incoming travelers was backed by Italy atthe meeting, which aimed at preventing SARS from spreading to Europe. But Germany and others opposed it.

"This would be false security. We can't afford that," said Klaus Theo Schroeder, Germany's junior health minister. The view was backed by WHO, which favors screening of passengers when they leave affected areas rather than when they arrive at SARS-free ports.

Greek health minister, Costas Stefanis, who chaired the meeting,told a news conference that the ministers had reached a consensus on the need to screen incoming travelers. "Everybody agreed that screening is necessary, both at entry and at exit," he said.

But Stefanis, whose country holds the current EU presidency, said later that the meeting had only backed administrative screening on entry, such as questionnaires distributed to passengers.

Ministers also pledged to spend an extra 20 million euro (23 million US dollars) on research, including the search for a vaccine.

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