Shenzhen and Hong Kong are tightening precautionary measures at checkpoints to guard against SARS from this week.

Officials with the Shenzhen Municipal Inspection and Quarantine Bureau met with counterparts from Hong Kong's Department of Health on Dec. 31 to discuss enhancing anti-SARS systems.

Four infrared thermal detectors have been installed in passenger lanes at the Huanggang Checkpoint and another five will be installed in the next few days.

Shenzhen checkpoints enhanced its 227 infrared thermal detectors to improve their precision.

Zhang Bailin, director-general of the local inspection and quarantine bureau, said the city would spend nearly 10 million yuan (US$120,000) on setting up isolation rooms for suspected patients at its six checkpoints.

A spokesman for Hong Kong's Department of Health said his department was maintaining daily contact with its Guangdong counterparts to obtain the latest information on the suspected SARS case in Guangzhou.
 
(Shenzhen Daily January 5, 2004)