WHO also called on airport services in Hong Kong, Taiwan, Hanoi, Singapore, Guangzhou, and Toronto to check all air passengers leaving the country for symptoms of atypical pneumonia or contacts with residents infected with the new disease. In its statement, WHO said that the new form of pneumonia has already claimed more than 50 lives and has been spread by air passengers to at least 12 countries over the past few weeks.
According to experts of the international organization, atypical pneumonia microbes are easily transmitted to passengers sitting even a few rows away from the infected person. As Avia.ru reports, information has emerged about a possible WHO statement in the coming days calling for a temporary restriction of tourism to a number of Asian countries.