Rail travellers to Malaysia to undergo thermal image scans

PEOPLE travelling to and from Malaysia by train will soon have their temperatures checked by thermal imaging scanners.

In an effort to prevent Sars from entering the country, the Malaysian Health Ministry has arranged for two infrared scanners to be installed at Tanjong Pagar Railway Station in Singapore.

A third will be set up at Padang Besar Station in Perlis, the entry point from Thailand.

Railway operator KTM Berhad expects the scanners to be in place within a week.

More than 7,000 people travel to and from Singapore by train each week. But KTM decided to suspended weekday train services between Singapore and Malaysia on May 5 because of a significant dropin passengers to Singapore.

KTM said that it plans to resume these services 'as soon as the government declares the Sars threat over'.

Meanwhile, Malaysia reported its first new probable Sars case in two weeks yesterday, a day after it declared that the worst of the outbreak was over for the country.

--The Straits Times, Singapore, 2003-05-10

I s the SARS threat over? We don't hear much about it anymore aprt from China.