Malaysia is expected to take quarantine action similar to that conducted in 2003 against the Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome (SARS) as a move to increase health surveillance due to the swine flu outbreak, according to Malaysia Airlines (MAS) on Tuesday.

The Malaysian Health Ministry will be screening passengers arriving from Los Angeles and New York of the United States for any obvious symptoms of the virus, the Malaysian national carrier said.

"Quarantine action will be done if necessary, similar to the procedure adopted during SARS scare in 2003," said MAS operation director Tajuden Abu Bakar in a statement released here.

Malaysia Airlines will assist in expediting the process as this exercise will invariably cause some inconvenience, especially for passengers with connecting flights, Tajuden said.

Tajuden also said that currently MAS had not seen a drop in travel demand and it was still operating as normal.

Meanwhile, Tajuden said that MAS allowed its passengers already booked for travel to Los Angeles or New York to make changes to their flights at no charge from now until the end of May 2009.

(Xinhua News Agency April 29, 2009)