None of the 28,000 outbound travellers who were screened at Hong Kong International Airport today were prevented from boarding their flights due to fever, the Director of Health says.

Speaking at a media briefing this evening, Dr Margaret Chan noted that one passenger who had a fever was asked to have his temperature checked again. The second reading showed he was okay to travel.

If readings from both ears are high, passengers will be directed to a station where they would use a mercury thermometer to take another reading. If it, too, indicates a fever, the traveller would be asked to seek medical attention.

"If a doctor certifies that the fever is not related to pneumonia, then the passenger would be allowed to board the plane," Dr Chan said.

The Department of Health is using disposable temperature gauges that slip inside the ear. Although doctors have suggested the earpiece can be disinfected and re-used, Dr Chan said that given the anxiety over the virus, they will use them only once.

Begining next week, all incoming air passengers will also be subject to the temperature check.

Land boundary crossings to get checks, too

Dr Chan said that she would like to see this arrangement apply to all boundary check points, as soon as possible. "It terms of logistics and equipment readiness, we are sorting it out," she added.

While using the ear thermometer at the airport is "manageable", it would not be at bustling land boundary crossings.

"At Lo Wu alone, both ways, the number of people moving across that point is anywhere from 300,000, plus or minus 50,000," she said.

Health and safety is of paramount importance, she stressed. "But we have to balance that against the time taken. We want to take advantage of new technology to speed up the flow."

The department is working with the universities, and hopes to introduce an infrared scanner. As a person walks through a passageway, his face would appear on a monitor in a colour that would indicate whether his temperature was normal or high. If infrared results show a high temperature, they would use an ear thermometer to check it.

"We have to calibrate them, and make sure they're effective," Dr Chan said, explaining why there has been a delay in introducing this technology at the checkpoints.

"One of our important tasks is to liaise with Mainland authorities to see how we can work together."

She is hopeful that perhaps Hong Kong will scan just those passengers coming into Hong Kong, while the Mainland can do people entering the Mainland.

No crystal-ball gazing

When asked to describe the atypical pneumonia outbreak in three weeks' time, Dr Chan replied: "I don't have a crystal ball to assist me. As a public health physician, I err on the side of  being cautious. We are dealing with a new virus, a new disease, and every day, the entire world, the entire medical community, is learning about the disease."

She added: "We're doing everything in our power and in our means to contain the spread of this disease. In the last week, things seemed to have settled down a bit - certainly we want to see this continuing."

In reply to a question, Dr Chan said she was satisfied with the Amoy Garden report's findings, and Hong Kong was sharing them with the World Health Organisation.

She also noted that, after the isolation order for Amoy Garden residents in Block E, there had been only one new atypical pneumonia case - and that that individual had shown symptoms ahead of the order.

Of the 326 cases from Amoy Garden, eight people had died.

There had been some lessons learned from the Amoy Garden outbreak, she said. "As soon as we see a second case in the same building, we send a team from the Department of Health to find out why. We know the spread of this disease, if we see anything unusual, we would move in right away.

"So far, we have not seen something similar to Amoy Garden, E Block. Notwithstanding that, we will continue to maintain vigilance, and to fulfill our international responsibility."