Sars fears tackled

By Jonathan Kent BBC correspondent in Bangkok

Many leaders thought fear was worse than the virus

It was a summit on Sars but there was not a mask in sight.

I had wondered as I attended this meeting in Bangkok and an earlier leg of the discussions in Kuala Lumpur if a summit on Sars is not the kind of place where I should take precautions.

After all, it brings together political leaders and their entourage from many of the countries worst hit by the virus, together with health experts and a pack of journalists from every "Sars-spicious" part of the globe.

If anyone coughs people turn round and give you hard stares - sneeze and you are persona non grata.

They had set up a thermal imaging machine in the foreign ministry in Bangkok where the summit was held.

As people passed by, their faces are caught on camera and fed through a computer appearing on a screen rendered in rainbow colours according to one's temperature.

Border checks

The summit agreed that there should be Sars checks at all border crossings in the region - this gadget is supposed to help health workers tell if you have a temperature as you rush through.

The thermal scans reminded me of the psychedelic photos of The Beatles that were given away with "The White Album". Very groovy.

Having been certified low temperature we were ushered into an auditorium where the leaders of China, Thailand, Cambodia and Singapore were to give a press conference.

Back in Kuala Lumpur, they would line up all the health ministers and officials for a photo. "Say Sars," one of the snappers had suggested. No one was sure whether to smile or not.

In Bangkok, it was a smile that said everything.

The last question posed was put to Chinese Premier Wen Jia Bao on his first trip abroad since his appointment.

"Had the premier apologised to his neighbours in the region?" one journalist asked.

Mr Wen played it straight but the most delicious grin crept across the face of Singaporean Prime Minister Goh Chok Tong sitting two seats away.

'Blissful question'

He just could not help it. As a driving force behind the summit having the Chinese premier attend must have been satisfaction enough.

To have him asked to publicly confirm an apology that was surely offered in private must have been bliss.

Soon the delegates and the press pack will drift back whence they came.

They will pass through empty airports, perhaps being cross-examined by health officials who ask if they have had a sniffle, a tickly cough or whether they have been feeling a little under the weather lately. Perhaps not.

In many places the border checks promised at the summit may never materialise.

But if as the assembled leaders said "fear is the real problem, not the virus", then such measures are less important than restoring confidence with a display of "getting serious".

Bangkok's Sars summit was certainly that.