New equipment to help detect potential bird flu cases is to be
installed at all of the city's border points.
All checkpoints will have infrared thermograph systems from
January, the Shenzhen Entry-Exit Inspection and Quarantine Bureau
announced during the visit of two World Health Organization (WHO)
experts Tuesday.
The infrared thermograph system, developed by the inspection and
quarantine bureau, has been trailed at Luohu Checkpoint since last
December.
Winter is the high season for bird flu and wintering migratory
birds arriving in Shenzhen also put the local Center for Disease
Control and Prevention (CDC) on high alert for the deadly
virus.
According to the quarantine bureau, the new thermographs will be
first installed at Huanggang Checkpoint, the soon-to-open Futian
and Shenzhen Bay checkpoints and Shenzhen airport.
The whole system includes 12 infrared thermograph devices and 40
surveillance cameras, linked to a network terminal.
Rather than taking passengers' temperatures one by one, the
infrared thermograph devices enable quarantine workers to check a
mass of body temperatures at a time. Any visitor at a surveillance
site with a temperature higher than a preset one will be
automatically located and tailed by the system.
"It helps the customs clearance as tourists no longer have to
have their temperature tested by a thermograph at individual
checkpoint counters," said Ye Qing, a spokeswoman for the
quarantine bureau. "People don't even notice the infrared
thermographs are there."
The new system will also reduce the number of quarantine workers
from 51 to nine.
Using the Internet, monitoring staff can communicate with
customs and health watchdogs immediately a suspected case is found.
The municipal and Central authorities are allowed to inspect and
take command during an emergency.
"More than 2,244 suspected bird flu cases were detected during
the past 11 months, and seven confirmed as pneumonia while eight
were meningitis," Ye said.
Dr. Pierre Carnevale and Dr. Daniel Lins-Menucci from the WHO
inspected the system at Luohu Checkpoint with the General
Administration of Quality Supervision, Inspection and Quarantine
and the local quarantine bureau officials.
Luohu Checkpoint is the biggest land checkpoint on the Chinese
mainland, with an average of 250,000 people crossing the border
daily.
(Shenzhen Daily December 8, 2006)