Flights could be screened for Sars

Passengers could be asked to complete questionnaires

Thousands of airline passengers may be screened for Sars as they arrive in the UK, says Health Secretary Alan Milburn.

However, he has ruled out making Sars a "notifiable disease" for the time being.

In a statement to the House of Commons, Mr Milburn said that he was sending observers to countries with high levels of Sars to make sure that people were being screened properly for the disease before they left on flights for the UK.

He said: "Where we have doubts that this is the case we will consider screening passengers on specific flights on entry to Britain."

This would take the form of a questionnaire - asking the passenger if they had been in contact with a Sars patient, or if they were feeling unwell.

We do not foresee this power being necessary in detaining people who fall ill with Sars at this stage

Alan Milburn MP, Health Secretary

Mr Milburn said that airlines returning passengers from Sars-affected areas would be asked to distribute information about Sars with their boarding cards.

Airlines, he said, had a responsibility to provide a "declaration of health" covering their passengers on arrival to the UK.

However, he described the identification of genuine Sars cases among the normal coughs, fevers and colds found among air passengers was akin to finding "a needle in a haystack".

"I have been advised that none of the probable cases of Sars so far identified in this country would have been prevented or detected by screening at points of exit, points of entry or on aircraft themselves."

The NHS is to be told to postpone the arrival of overseas doctors and nurses recruited from countries where Sars is most prevalent.

Low risk

So far, six people in the UK have fallen ill with probable Sars, compared with more than 4,000 worldwide.

So far, there have been no deaths from the illness in the UK.

His approach is based on the presumption that somebody who is unwell with a high fever will act in a rational way

Dr Liam Fox, Shadow Health Secretary

However, the infection has caused widespread concern, and prompted calls, not least from the Conservatives, for the government to make it a notifiable disease.

This would allow people with the illness to be put in compulsory quarantine.

Need for speed

However, Mr Milburn said that the scheme was "slow and bureaucratic" at a time when rapid notification was the order of the day.

He said: "We do not foresee this power being necessary in detaining people who fall ill with Sars at this stage.

"Should the Chief Medical Officer advise me that wider powers become necessary, then Sars will be made notifiable.

"I am advised we could do so within 48 hours."

He said it would be "extraordinarily unusual" for someone suffering from Sars to reject treatment and defy a quarantine request from doctors.

However, Shadow Health Secretary Dr Liam Fox said: "His approach is based on the presumption that somebody who is unwell with a high fever will act in a rational way."

He warned that reports suggesting that the Sars outbreak had peaked ran the risk of creating a climate of complacency.