Tackling SARS the Singapore Way

About 200,000 Singapore primary school students are given digital thermometers to check their body temperatures daily

Health and Hygiene Certification Schemes for Hotels and Businesses

The first batch of thermometers were given out to students in Primary one to four, aged six to nine The rest of the school population expected to get theirs by the end of May. Students are required to take their temperatures twice daily and record in a logbook which are issued with the thermometers.

Temperature check is the first line of defence against the SARS disease, as fever is a key symptom.

A person with fever of 38 degrees centigrade or higher is a potential SARS victim.

According to Deputy Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong last week, every Singaporean household ( about 930,000) would get thermometers by June for them to monitor their temperatures on a daily basis.

Singapore has been praised for its no-nonsense approach against SARS, including mass quarantines, school closures and pre-departure screenings. Many of these tough steps have been copied by other affected countries. At least 23 people have died of SARS in Singapore out of more than 200 cases recorded.

All members of the country's armed forces were issued thermometers and required to take their temperatures twice daily.

The Singapore Government is spending another $US3 million ($4.8 million) to provide another half a million students up to pre-university level with thermometers.

Winning back tourists

Tourism in the country was worst hit by SARS. The number of tourists dropped drastically as Thais, Malaysians, Chinese nationals, Japanese and Americans stayed home or holidayed somewhere else. If the tourists fail to come, it could cost Singapore at least $4.8 billion by the end of this year.

To win back tourists, a "certification scheme" code-named 'COOL Singapore', was launched to give confidence to visitors' well-being during their stay in the country.

Under the certification scheme, hotels are required, among other things, to carry out daily temperature checks on all staff , suppliers and vendors who enter their premises, and other health control measures such as daily disinfection of all their rooms and common facilities. Sticker similar to those used by taxi drivers, will be worn by their employees to declare they do not suffer from fevers, one of the prime symptoms of SARS. Every two weeks, monitoring teams from "Spring Singapore" will undertake checks and health audits on hotels and businesses. Those who fail will lose their awards.

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