http://www.arabnews.com/?page=1§ion=0&article=123321&d=7&m=6&y=2009
Sunday 7 June 2009 (13 Jumada al-Thani 1430)
Health Ministry steps up swine flu screening
Sultan Altamimi | Arab News
STRICT MONITORING: Passengers arriving from Washington are being
screened at Jeddah airport's South Terminal on Saturday. (AN photo)
JEDDAH: The Ministry of Health has stepped up swine flu screening at all
of the Kingdom's entry points following the discovery of the country's first
case of swine flu last week.
Orderly checking was witnessed at the South Terminal of Jeddah's King
Abdulaziz International Airport yesterday.
"Passengers from seven nations - the United States, Mexico, Canada, the
United Kingdom, Spain, Germany and Japan - that are on the watch list are the
ones that we are looking carefully at," said one Saudi health official. "Things
are under control," he added.
Health Department personnel were seen screening passengers arriving on a
Saudi Arabian Airlines flight from Washington yesterday.
One staff member manned the front desk at the arrivals gate checking for
passengers with high temperatures through a laptop computer hooked to a thermal
camera.
"We look at all individuals coming in through the thermal screen. When
the screen picks those who have a body temperature of 38 degrees Celsius (100.4
F) or above an alarm goes off in the system and that person is stopped for
further checkups at the airport's health center," the official said.
"We take swab samples from the mouth and the nose of the individual, and
check their temperatures again. Till now, no passenger has exhibited flu-like
symptoms," he added.
"We are well equipped here at the airport to monitor incoming passengers
from all the countries on the watch list," said Yousef Abu Al-Faraj, supervisor
of Jeddah's South Terminal.
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