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Cabinet lifts mask requirement

The nation's air police demonstrate how to use their newly purchased disposable quarantine bags yesterday at Taipei's Sungshan Airport as well as how to properly deliver SARS patients by police helicopters. PHOTO: CHIANG YING-YING, TAIPEI TIMES

Passengers on domestic and international flights are no longer obliged to wear face masks, the Cabinet's SARS prevention committee announced yesterday.

The new rule took effect at 6pm yesterday, the Ministry of Transportation and Communications said.

"The lifting of the regulation aims to make Taiwan's anti-SARS measures compatible with other countries," said Lee Ming-liang (李明亮), co-chairman of the SARS prevention committee.

"Under the requirement of the World Health Organization (WHO), many countries have begun to check passengers' temperature before boarding. Therefore, it is no longer necessary for passengers to wear face masks," Lee said.

According to the committee, a WHO official reported at the World Health Assembly on May 19 that, so far, it has been confirmed that a total of 16 SARS patients worldwide contracted the disease on airplanes.

Most of those patients were infected because they were seated near people who already had the disease. The 16 cases were all reported before March 23, four days before the WHO recommended that all airlines screen their passengers for signs of the disease.

No air travelers were found to have contracted SARS after March 23. In addition, the committee said that neither the WHO nor the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention had suggested that air crews or travelers without symptoms should wear face masks.

Face masks are still a must for MRT passengers and taxi drivers. The committee did not say when those requirements would be lifted.

Meanwhile, the 10-day national temperature-checking campaign starts tomorrow. Accordingly, the committee has distributed to every village chief and borough warden two ear thermometers to be used to check residents' temperatures in their districts.

Each village chief and borough warden has also received 1,000 disposable probe covers for ear thermometers and 20 face masks. Six million disposable probe covers were brought into the country yesterday, according to the committee.

Chen Chien-jen (陳建仁), director-general of the Department of Health, reported seven new probable cases yesterday, bringing the total to 667. The number of deaths stood at 81.

Among the 667 probable cases, 125 have been discharged from hospital. In addition, the contact history for four of yesterday's seven new probable cases is traceable, Chen said.

As tracing contact history constitutes an important condition for Taiwan to be cleared from the WHO's travel advisory list, Chen said case tracing will be a key part of the committee's tasks.

Chen said he hopes Taiwan can be removed from the list by the middle of June.

Meanwhile, Su Yi-jen (蘇益仁), director of the Center for Disease Control (CDC), reported that there have been no infections among health-care workers for the past 10 days.

Chen remained cautious about the result, saying there could be two explanations for the zero-infection rate among health-care workers.

"First, the results indicate patients are now honestly reporting their illnesses. Second, our hospital infection control has improved. But we can by no means drop our guard because a single lapse can cause another chain of infection," Chen said.

He said that since many SARS patients have been discharged recently, it is important their families and neighbors have a healthy attitude toward the disease and the patients.

While many SARS patients are actually healthy enough to be discharged, Lee said, their neighbors have been protesting their release and demanding that the patients be kept in hospitals longer for observation.

"Even the WHO officials here said it is largely unnecessary for the patients to stay so long in hospitals," Lee said.

Chen called for the public to sympathize with and accept SARS patients. "They, like everyone of us, are deserving of love," he said.
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