Beating the summer 250 years ago

In the sports arena, Malaysia successfully staged the Petronas Formula One Malaysia Grand Prix on March 21-23, a week after the WHO issued a global alert on SARS. Some 101,485 spectators from various countries turned up for the second leg of the Formula One World Championship, testimony of how safe the country is as a destination.

Malaysia has also lined up numerous events up till the year-end such as Japan GT Championship on June 20-23, the Mount Kinabalu International Climbathon on October 4-6 and the Organisation of Islamic Conference on October 11-18 to name a few.

The Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome (SARS) has put many countries on the alert, and thanks to the stringent precautionary and preventive measures taken by the government, Malaysia until today is not classified as a SARS affected country by the World Health Organisation (WHO).

Aimed at protecting the welfare of the Malaysian public and tourists, the government has undertaken various measures to confront the spread of SARS from becoming a major health crisis. The government’s immediate priority is to ensure that Malaysia’s health care system is fully prepared to contain the SARS threat. The decisive action of the Malaysian government is in addition to the WHO guidelines to stringently screen every visitor from SARS-infected countries, namely, China, Hong Kong, Taiwan, Singapore, Canada and Vietnam as identified by WHO, at every point of entry into the country to ensure that Malaysia is safe from SARS.

The Malaysia government has set up a high level National Committee on SARS Control chaired by the Minister of Health aimed at taking proactive measures to contain the threat of the disease. Other members of the committee include senior officials from the Ministry of Culture, Arts and Tourism, Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Ministry of Home Affairs, Ministry of Transport, Ministry of Information, Ministry of Housing and Local Authority, the Immigration Department and the Police.

In addition, the Malaysia government has also designated 18 hospitals throughout the country to further ensure that the disease is contained and the country is safe not only for Malaysians, but also for visiting business and leisure travellers.

In addition, the Malaysian government has drawn up a plan of action which involves:

1. Airlines screening passengers from affected countries at the point of departure.

2. Airlines disallowing passengers showing symptoms of SARS for travel to Malaysia.

3. Airlines isolating passengers with symptoms of SARS on flights to Malaysia.

The tourism industry, namely, the hotel sector in particular, has also responded positively through various preventive measures to ensure that guests are protected from SARS. These include:

1. Disinfecting all guest rooms, restaurant and lounge tables, health club equipment, cutlery, glass and dining ware on a regular basis.

2. Daily testing of chlorine and pH levels in hotel swimming pools.

3. Hotel employees undergoing daily thermo-health checks.

4. Installation of special hand-wash area for hotel staff to ensure highest standard of personal hygiene.

5. Safe food handling training sessions for restaurant, kitchen and housekeeping employees.

6. Providing special sanitising soaps at all public and staff washrooms.

Since the outbreak of SARS, there have been only two deaths reported in Malaysia. One involving a 65 year old man who died on March 30 and the second involving a 26 year old man who succumbed to the disease on April 22. Both cases have been classified as ‘imported cases’ as the victims had visited China and Singapore. To date, there is no report of a ‘local-transmission’ case of SARS in Malaysia. All reported SARS death cases in Malaysia have a similar pattern, that is, each case was as a result of the victim’s trip to China or to other SARS-affected countries. Despite the global fear of SARS, Malaysia continues to draw tourists from the Indian market to its shores and to its various attraction. From January to March 2003, the number of tourist arrivals from the region was 38,488 compared to 33,616 arrivals last year.