［注意］SARS travel warning issued by Dutch Health ministry

SARS travel warning issued by Dutch Health ministry
2 April 2003
AMSTERDAM — The Dutch Health Ministry has backed a call by the World Health Organisation (WHO) for people to avoid travelling to Hong Kong or parts of China because of the outbreak of a deadly, pneumonia-like SARS virus.

The number of SARS patients has risen sharply and there are also many suspected cases in Hong Kong. Therefore, people should not travel there if they can possibly avoid doing so, the Ministry said in a statement.

Foreign Affairs Minister Jaap de Hoop Scheffer and the acting Health Minister Art Jan de Geus are due to hold talks with their opposite numbers from the other EU member states about the crisis tomorrow.

The main issue on the agenda is whether to extend the advice not to travel to other infected areas, like Guandong, Shanxi and Beijing in China, Taiwan, Vietnam, Singapore and Toronto in Canada.

Several EU countries, Sweden, Finland, Spain, France and Ireland have already decided to advise their citizens not to travel to these places.

Canada and the US have also advised people not to travel to areas where SARS is active.

The European Commission has yet to issue a ban on travel because it has waited for definite advice from WHO.

However, WHO has advised airlines to screen passengers from SARS-infected areas and to refuse passengers who appear sick. The Netherlands has already warned that Dutch people who contract pneumonia-type conditions in Asia will not be allowed to return home for treatment.

Anyone who needs to be treated in a Dutch hospital will be placed in quarantine for 10 days to ensure they do not have SARS. To date, 1,800 SARS cases have been identified worldwide and 64 people have died.

Ironically, the Netherlands does not have a proper Health Minister at a time SARS is causing global concern.

The last incumbent, Eduard Bomhoff, resigned in November 2002 after constant quarrelling with his LPF party colleague and former Economic Affairs Minister Herman Heinsbroek.

Despite the resignation of both Bomhoff and Heinsbroek, the government collapsed and Social Affairs Minister De Geus is currently serving in a caretaker capacity pending the outcome of coalition formation talks between the Christian Democrat CDA and Labour PvdA.

There have been no SARS infections in the Netherlands, although fears have been raised of a possible case in Belgium.

[Copyright Expatica News 2003]

Holland prepared for 2,000 SARS cases
3 April 2003
AMSTERDAM — Dutch hospitals have enough antiviral medicine to cope with about 2,000 SARS cases, but there only "several dozen" ventilators available to help patients of the deadly respiratory virus with their breathing, Parliament was told on Thursday.

There have been no cases of SARS in the Netherlands to date but MPs called on the national health inspectorate IGZ to detail preparations in the event of an outbreak here.

A health official told Parliament that it was very important for people to be properly informed to allow them to recognise the symptoms of the virus. These are coughing, high fever, muscle pain and shortness of breath.

But the official warned that hospitals could be overrun if large groups of ill-informed people incorrectly assume they have SARS, news agency ANP said.

There is no known cure for SARS, which has infected over 1,000 people worldwide and killed more than 60 people in China, Hong Kong, Vietnam and Toronto, Canada.

MPs demanded to know what steps are being taken to prevent the spread of the virus from Asia to the Netherlands.

Christian Democrat MP Siem Buijs suggested that staff at Amsterdam's Schiphol Airport should be given preventative medication to make them less vulnerable to infection. The IGZ said, however, that it is not yet known if this approach helps against SARS.

Other MPs pushed for more thorough checking of passengers before they board planes in Asia to travel to the Netherlands. Alternatively, the MPs said, all passengers from Asia should receive a full check up as soon as their plane lands in Amsterdam.

The IGZ countered that it would be impractical to try and check all passengers arriving on a Jumbo jet.

[Copyright Expatica News 2003]