Senior health officials from ASEAN [Association of Southeast Asian Nations] countries and China began discussions in Kuala Lumpur in Malaysia on Friday on an action plan to control the outbreak of the Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome.

The discussions come ahead of a health ministers' meeting on Saturday, which is likely to adopt a joint declaration on the prevention of the killer disease.

Called by Malaysia, the two-day meeting on preventing the deadly atypical pneumonia that has so far infected about 4,000 people worldwide, started with a senior officials meeting, state-owned Bernama news agency reported.

The ministerial-level meeting will have health ministers from nine of the 10-member ASEAN group, as Vietnam was unable to send its representation. China sent a six-member team led by Deputy Minister of Health Huang Jie Fu.

Participants are likely to adopt a joint declaration on prevention of SARS, which will be forwarded to their respective heads of government for the special summit in Bangkok on April 29.

Malaysian Health Minister Chua Jui Meng said the weekend meet will discuss eight areas of cooperation, including discussing the induvisual country reports in the areas of epidemiology, public health measures, information on cases and contacts as well as how to handle the question of foreign workers.

The need for health declaration cards for East Asian nations and sharing of laboratories for identification of the SARS virus would come up for discussion, as also matters related to the screening of travellers at pre-departure points and upon arrival in Malaysia, Singapore and other countries affected by the pestilence.

Chua said experts from the World Health Organisation will give a global overview on SARS and are likely to inform the meeting on the latest situation and the efforts taken by the body to tackle the outbreak.

The meeting will be followed by a briefing on the situation in China, Hong Kong, Singapore and host Malaysia before proceeding to round table talks.

The talks would also include the need for a 'universal protection system' especially for China and Hong Kong, many of whose healthcare workers have come down with SARS, the Malaysian Health Minister said.

China is expected to come under the spotlight, as there are allegations that it failed to alert the world about the initial outbreak of SARS in its territory.

Mohammed Taha Arif, Malaysia's director-general of health, told delegates, "We need to understand the current control measures on SARS. Effective combined efforts with the ASEAN countries are what we need."

Joel Vanderburg, the WHO representative for Malaysia, Singapore and Brunei, appreciated the decision to hold a meeting and said, "It is always excellent when governments are interested enough to make decisions together."

The ASEAN group include Brunei, Cambodia, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, Myanmar, the Philippines, Singapore, Thailand and Vietnam.

Five of the 10 ASEAN members have recorded SARS deaths -- Singapore, Vietnam, Thailand, Malaysia and the Philippines.

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