Heathrow Airport’s arrivals lounge was home to unlikely scenes yesterday as hundreds of passengers wearing surgical facemasks disembarked a flight from Hong Kong.
Pictures in today’s Daily Mail show passengers young and old wearing the masks, which are aimed at protecting people from Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome – SARS – which has killed more than 80 people worldwide.
According to the newspaper, passengers were told to watch out for symptoms of the disease for the next 10 days, while many passengers were still wearing their masks as they emerged into the airport’s arrivals area.
Airlines and travel organisations worldwide are beginning to feel the effects of the outbreak; Cathay Pacific has announced plans to cut nearly 50 flights a week, Singapore Airlines is cutting back a similar number of services, while in Thailand the authorities have announced plans to quarantine for 14 days entire planeloads of passengers if anyone on board is found to be carrying the disease.
