SARS and WAR takes the toll - even on SAA

[Gunship]

In the last two weeks South African Airways (SAA) has cancelled two flights to Hong Kong and sixteen flights to New York as war continued in Iraq and the fears surrounding severe acute respiratory syndrome (Sars) mounted.

SAA communications head Rich Mkhondo says Sars has been a major contributing factor to the Hong Kong cancellations, while it is possible to link the New York cancellations to the war in Iraq.

"Both the flights that we have cancelled to Hong Kong have been due to lower demand for seats, but they have also both been Thursday flights. We fly to Hong Kong five times a week and our end-of-week flights have been economically feasible so we have not needed to cancel those," he said.

Mkhondo added, however, that while it is not unusual to cancel domestic flights due to reduced demand, international flights are rarely cancelled.

Pilots and flight attendants on all SAA flights have been alerted and taught to recognise the Sars symptoms. Passengers are also asked specific questions before boarding flights.

Airports Company South Africa (Acsa) communications manager Solomon Makgale says that the company will ensure that on arrival, an affected aircraft is isolated and quarantined if necessary.

"We will quarantine a flight if and when directed by the Department of Health. The virus is spreading so fast that all flights are being looked at, but we wait on instruction from the department," he said.

Makgale said there was a scare on a Cape Town flight last week, which was isolated, but it was later given the clear from the department.

The Department of Health says that the South African response to the flu virus is a targeted one, focusing on people who recently visited specific Asian countries and might have come into contact with Sars.

Health authorities at airports are continuing to advise passengers arriving from affected destinations in Asia what to do in the event of becoming ill with Sars-like symptoms soon after return.

Sars is a respiratory illness caused by a virus recently described in patients from Asia, North America and Europe. The World Health Organisation (WHO) is currently co-ordinating a global response to reported outbreaks of Sars.

Cases have been reported from thirteen countries since February this year. As of March 31, 1 622 suspect and probable cases of Sars - including 58 deaths - have been reported to the WHO. Local transmission has been confined to Canada, Hong Kong, Singapore, Taiwan and Vietnam.

A South African businessman, hospitalised after returning from a trip to Hong Kong last month, has been identified as the first probable case of the Sars virus in Africa, health officials said on Wednesday.

[Gunship]

Despite a global alert from the World Health Organisation of a highly contagious form of pneumonia which has already caused nine deaths overseas, South Africa's health and airline officials contacted on Monday by News24 failed to say whether or not there were mechanisms in place to screen incoming flights.

International airlines joined health authorities on Monday in efforts to check the spread of the disease, which has infected more than 450 people worldwide so far.

The disease, named by the WHO as severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS), has left four people dead in Asia and Canada.

Last week alone, the virus infected more than 150 people, mostly medical workers.

Officials at Johannesburg International Airport, South Africa's largest point of entry, could not say whether personnel at the airport were deployed to screen for SARS' sufferers.

After dilly-dallying by some officials, the South African Airways issued a statement in the afternoon. The statement said that the airliner has taken note of the outbreak".

Avoiding calls

Earlier during the day, despite continued broadcasts from international and local TV and radio stations of reports of the outbreak, some officials were avoiding News24's calls, while some could not comment for fear of reprimand.

One official though, from the Western Cape's provincial government, told News24 that while his office had not received any communication from the national office, it had taken measures to monitor the situation at the Cape Town International.

Danny Abrahams, the provincial spokesperson for the health department, said that his office had issued an instruction to Port Health unit at Cape Town International to monitor the situation.

Port Health is a division of the health department that deals with health-related issues at South African ports.

Abrahams said: "I doubt if there's been any communication from the government."

While he said his office had instructed Port Health to monitor the situation at the Cape Town International airport, he had not received any feedback from the airport officials by mid afternoon.

"We've asked them (Port Health)... what they are going to do."

However, Port Health officials at the airport, who asked not to be named, told News24 that they had not received anything from the provincial office.

Abrahams said that he was not aware if other provinces - such as Gauteng and the Eastern Cape - had put in place measures to deal with the scare.

No communique

A Port Health employee - based in Gauteng - confirmed that her unit had not received any communication from the government.

Rich Mkhondo, SAA's spokesperson, who earlier told News24 that the airline was aware of the killer flu reports, without elaborating further added that "standard procedure" in cases like this will have to take its due course.

According to him, foreign airlines are obligated to declare the health status of their passengers after lending. This was confirmed by another industry source who said that the captain of the plane signs a form to confirm that none of his passengers are a potential danger.

Asked whether there were special arrangements to monitor certain flights (from affected countries), he said: "We don't fly there... we don't get flights from there."

In a statement sent to News24 after 16:00, Mkhondo indicated that SAA did, in fact, fly to Hong Kong, Thailand and Australia.

News reports on Monday indicated that the disease is suspected to have originated from Australia.

Pilots briefed

The SAA health division has briefed pilots and flight attendants on symptoms related to the disease and steps to be taken, Mkhondo said. However, the statement did not say what practical measures had been taken since WHO issued the alert.

"SAA has also asked its pilots and flight attendants to follow the guidelines issued by the WHO concerning SARS," Mkondo said.

Another media spokesperson, for the Airports Company South Africa (ACSA), said that she was not aware of any communication from the health authorities and therefore couldn't comment further.

Jacky O' Sullivan told News24 that ACSA will only act if it gets a directive from department of health.

It was still not clear on Monday afternoon what efforts were in place to assure South Africans that they are safe from the killer disease.



http://www.news24.com/Images/Photos/2003040210452202_killer%20flu.jpg

[V1 Rotate]

Yes, and now the SAA flights to and from the US are bursting at the seams with long wait lists! All the US flights this weekend are completly full and wait listed through next week! Was it realy necessary to cut so many flights??
:( :( :(
V1 Rotate

[Gunship]

Strange how the Government must first be criticised in newspapers before they DO something ...

International flights to South Africa could be quarantined to contain the deadly severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS).

Solomon Makgale, communications manager for the Airports Company SA, on Wednesday said the move to isolate certain flights, especially from the Far East, was in line with directives from the national health department.

The decision was made against the background of another SARS scare - a Pretoria man suspected of having the flu-like virus is in quarantine, although initial tests indicate he does not have the disease.

'The initial tests have come back negative'
Makgale said that once a flight had been isolated, medical personnel would identify people who showed symptoms of Sars.

These include high fever and one or more respiratory symptoms such as coughing, shortness of breath and difficulty in breathing.

The Pretoria businessman displayed symptoms of the disease shortly after returning from a trip from Hong Kong last month.

After going to his doctor and to a pharmacy for treatment, he was admitted to Pretoria East hospital, where medical staff placed him in an isolation ward.

Apart from displaying symptoms, a person must also have been to one of the countries where the disease is rampant or have been in close contact with an infected person.

'We will continue to treat him as a probable SARS case'
Professor Barry Schoub, director of the National Institute for Communicable Diseases, said the test for the virus was conducted twice on samples of the man's blood.

"The initial tests have come back negative but this does not mean the patient does not have the disease. We will continue to treat him as a probable SARS case."

He added that the diagnosis was made clinically and on the basis of the man's travel history.

"We should know whether this is a SARS case by next week," he said.

Dr Richard Friedland, chief operating officer of Netcare, said that prior to the man being admitted to hospital, he had "unprotected contact" with 17 people.

"All of these people have been advised of the symptoms and are under surveillance," he said.

The man's doctor said his breathing was being assisted and he was still in a critical condition.

Members of the public who have any concerns regarding SARS should call the 24-hour hotline on 012-422-2614.

[BAKELA]

Hong Kong's flagship airline, Cathay Pacific, has cut capacity by over 25% in the wake of the SARS outbreak.

World airlines were hit hard by the SARS epidemic on Wednesday as several carriers cut flights, Australia's Qantas axed 1,000 jobs and global airlines body IATA warned the disease could hurt the industry more than the Iraq war.

"SARS is likely to have a significantly worse impact on the global airline industry than the war in Iraq," IATA assistant director Lasantha Subasinghe told a Tokyo conference.

The International Air Transport Association had previously forecast war in Iraq could easily add $10 billion to world airline losses and deepen what is already the worst crisis in the history of commercial aviation.

IATA warned more carriers could join the list of airline casualties unless they manage to cut costs.

Airlines around the world have slashed flights as they struggle to cope with the pressure of the deadly SARS virus on bookings already depressed by war. Asian airline shares fell around four percent on Wednesday.

The flu-like Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome (SARS) has infected more than 2,800 people in 20 countries, as travelers who picked up the virus in Asia spread it in their own countries. Qantas Airways Ltd, Australia's biggest airline, axed 1,000 jobs on Wednesday, three percent of its workforce, blaming the impact of SARS.

Finland's national carrier Finnair said its passenger numbers were down in March as SARS hit demand, a day after Germany's Deutsche Lufthansa AG warned of an "unexpectedly" deep first-quarter operating loss due to a sharp fall in passenger numbers.

Asia's biggest airline Japan Airlines System Corp, All Nippon Airways, Hong Kong's Cathay Pacific Airways, Korean Air, and Indonesia's state-owned Garuda Indonesia have all cut flights because of SARS.

Qantas also plans to eliminate a further 400 permanent positions from its 35,000-strong work force through attrition and convert another 300 permanent jobs to part-time positions.

"We're seeing in the last 10 days that SARS and the amount of publicity it has got...in this region is causing more problems than the war," Qantas Chief Executive Geoff Dixon said.

SARS HITS WHERE IT HURTS MOST

Qantas said its international forward bookings remained soft, with passengers wanting to fly the "kangaroo route" to London down 10 percent. Bookings to Hong Kong are down 25 percent, to Japan down 20 percent and to Europe down 17 percent.

Shares in Qantas, which is 17 percent owned by British Airways Plc, tumbled more than four percent to A$3.07.

Cathay, which says SARS has "annihilated" passenger bookings, saw its shares drop 4.7 percent to HK$9.15, while Singapore Airlines shares slid four percent to S$8.90.

"It seems what is being priced in is much worse than what's actually there," said an Asian aviation analyst, who declined to be named.

"SARS really hits people where it hurts the most -- their health -- but I do sense there's a little bit of an overreaction here which could be interesting to see unwind," he added.

Some analysts said while the Qantas job cuts reflected global industry woes, the airline was also taking advantage of the slump to trim its hefty long-term labor costs.

Qantas said it would not rule out further job cuts and plans to extend an accelerated leave program, which had aimed to temporarily cut 3,000 full-time equivalent positions through forced leave and a hiring freeze.

Some analysts said the global aviation crisis provided an ideal opportunity for Qantas to trim its heavily unionised workforce and better align its cost base with that of low-cost rivals such as Richard Branson's Virgin Blue (VA.UL).

"I know they'll probably argue they have to do it anyway to maintain profitability, but it's a good chance to get really stuck into it and not perhaps create the stiff opposition they would have done otherwise," said F.W. Holst analyst David Spry.

[BAKELA]

One of the possible consequences of the events in Iraq is that the attention of developed nations and flows of development assistance and investment may turn away from Africa and from the New Partnership for Africa's Development (NEPAD), says South African Trade and Industry Minister Alec Erwin.

Speaking during his Budget vote in the National Assembly, Erwin said: "While we are sure that the United States administration will not turn away from Africa, it would be naïve to think that it will be a priority".

"The actions of the United Kingdom will also have the effect of preoccupying the European Union with its own internal policy coherence," he predicted, noting that NEPAD was critical to the successful economic development of Africa.

He said he hoped that the South Africa Custom's Union negotiations with the US - for free trade with the US - would remain on track. "Negotiations will commence in May and technical work has already been done to prepare us for what will be a tough, but ultimately beneficial process."

He said, however, that it was "of very real concern" that lasting damage may have been done to multilateralism "as a means of global governance and achieving common goals".

"The undermining of international rules and norms is one of the most disconcerting aspects of recent events," he said.

Erwin said further: "While we must not allow world attention to be diverted from this enormous task (of the development of Africa) we must realise now more than ever that Africa's future lies essentially in its own hands."

[Pontius' Pilot]

All flights between Mauritius and Kuala Lumpur, Singapore, and Hong Kong have been suspended. The risk SARS presents to the tourist industry there is just too great to rely on screening and reporting symptoms on arrival.

[BAKELA]

SA tourism shrugs off war and Sars virus - Reputation as a safe haven maintained

(Business Day 29/04/2003)

THE domestic tourism sector is bound to feel the effects of the Iraqi war and the killer flu, severe acute respiratory syndrome (Sars), now and over the next few months.

While no official statements have been made by SA authorities on the effects of the Iraqi war on the country, indications are that SA has maintained its status as a safe haven for tourists throughout the conflict.

Measures to prevent the spread of the deadly Sars disease to SA also appear to have proved effective.

There were two suspected cases but these have not been confirmed.

The war and the virus have wreaked havoc in the air travel industry worldwide. Numerous airlines have cut flights, including some to and from SA, in response to reduced demand.

Amid the turmoil there was no evidence to be found that international tourism in SA had crashed. It was also the fact that the domestic tourism industry responded well after the September 11 terrorist attacks on the US that saw the country attain its status as a safe destination for tourists.

Halfway through the Iraqi war, companies such as Tourvest and Rennies Travel noted a decline in inquiries and bookings, but this was marginal. No decline was noticed at Johannesburg International Airport. Consensus was that if the Iraqi war ended soon, and it did, SA would escape fairly unscathed.

The domestic tourism market is resilient and is therefore expected to recover quickly.

There is, however, the possibility that the conflict could spill over into other areas, such as Syria.

One company bucked the trend by maintaining strong growth during the toughest times. Avis, Africa's largest car rental company, says that in the first week of April, reservations were well ahead of the corresponding period.

CEO Grenville Wilson speculated, however, that this could be ascribed to the type of tourist that does business with Avis. "These are typically second or third-time visitors to the country," he says.

Wilson worries though that the domestic tourism sector is bound to feel the effects of cuts in the number of flights to and from the country by airlines like SA Airways, Cathay Pacific and Lufthansa. "Ultimately it must impact us, but this is still ahead," he says.

In addition to this and the effect Sars had on global travel, the continued strengthening of the rand has made SA less of a bargain as a holiday destination, says Wilson. "But in our view, positive foreign tourist perceptions will continue to sustain the growth in long-haul visitors to the country."

Alternatively, the strong rand could help Avis keep local fleet cost hikes in line with the inflation rate and so assist in avoiding any margin squeeze, says Wilson. Avis would elaborate on this during the release of its full-year results next month.

[Gunship]

The first SA SARS victim - an elderly "chinese origin" man has died.

Many reports did the rounds this week here and the lastest said he had a "lung infection"

http://www.news24.com/Images/Photos/2003050311524403_sars.jpg

[BAKELA]

My untrustworthy little bird that sometimes whispers in my ear up here in Guatengeleng has told me that the man definately did not die of SARS. I really hope that's true as it will mean that Africa is still SARS free :) - except of course SA with the other SARS we suffer from every month.