European Union health ministers have backed away from a proposal to screen travellers from areas affected by the SARS virus after taking advice from a senior UN health official.
Officials said the idea of screening incoming travellers wasbacked by Italy at an emergency meeting of EU health ministers,but Germany and others opposed it.
"This would be false security. We can't afford that," said Mr Klaus Theo Schroeder, Germany's junior health minister.
Germany's view was backed by Mr Gro Harlem Brundtland, director general of the World Health Organisation, which favours the screening of passengers when they leave affected areas rather than when they arrive at SARS-free ports.
Greece's health minister, Mr Costas Stefanis, who chaired the emergency meeting, told a news conference that the ministers had reached a consensus on the need to screen incoming travellers.
"Everybody agreed that screening is necessary, both at entry and at exit," he said.
But he later said the meeting had only backed administrative screening on entry, such as questionnaires distributed to passengers.