NO SARS TO DECLARE

PASSENGERS arriving at airports and seaports in Trinidad and Tobago will now have to fill out a “SARS Declaration Form” as well as the usual Customs and Immigration forms. The forms have already been distributed to the Port-of-Spain docks and to airlines personnel who are expected to hand out the forms to incoming aircraft.

This is the latest precautionary effort by the Ministry of Health to try to prevent the deadly virus from entering our shores. The form requires the passenger to give detailed personal information, their points of departure over the past 14 days and their intended address while in Trinidad and Tobago. Information on the medical condition of the passenger is also required. The form asks passengers if they had experienced a high fever, respiratory symptoms including coughing and shortness of breath and difficulty in breathing to report to major health facilities in the country, a listing of which is provided on the form.

The Port Authority received the forms late yesterday evening, and has already put their own measures in place to deal with the threat. According to Margaret Birch-Thompson, Public Relations Officer at the Port Authority, all updates from the Ministry of Health and CAREC are being treated earnestly. The Port Authority said that all employees have been thoroughly educated and a competent Health Unit is prepared to deal with any related occurrence. The Port Authority does not expect to have any cruise ships arriving at the port before October. Marcelle Joseph, Trinidad and Tobago District Manager of British Airways, stated that the airline had begun distributing a similar form more than a week ago. “We had received these documents over a week ago, and they have been distributed to all arriving passengers,” said Joseph.

The airline services passengers coming out of infected areas through connection in the UK, but Joseph said that the airline has been vigilant in ensuring that all passengers are uninfected. Up to late yesterday evening, officials at the Airport Authority had not received the forms. The Ministry of Health has offered assurance that adequate stocks of drugs are available, and necessary conditions for treatment have been set up at the major hospitals. Attempts to find out whether BWIA had received the forms provided futile. BWIA flies in and out of Toronto where several cases of SARS have been reported. The virus which started in Hong Kong and China is now spreading rapidly around the world and has to date caused many deaths. There is no vaccine nor known cure.