Despite official warnings, some are taking a lax approach to precautions
Doctors and officials have urged schools to strengthen precautions against Sars and other infectious diseases after many pupils returned to school yesterday without having had their temperature checked at home.
As many as 40 per cent of the 900 pupils at SKH Yat Sau Primary School in Choi Hung Estate told teachers they and their parents had failed to follow the government's anti-fever guidelines, according to the teacher in charge of overseeing the measures.
The school had to spend nearly an hour checking pupils' temperatures and spraying their hands with disinfectant.
'I just forgot that I had to measure my temperature. But I am not scared by Sars at all,' said Chan Wai-hin, 7, a Year 2 pupil.
Li Yuen-lung, parent of a Year 4 pupil, said she was not aware of the need to follow the measures. 'Our family did not travel outside Hong Kong during the summer vacation. So I thought taking my child's temperature wasn't necessary,' she said.
Tsoi Kai-chun, principal of Yaumati Catholic Primary School, said about 10 per cent of his 1,000 pupils did not follow the temperature-checking guidelines. He said the rate was much higher than before the vacation, when classes resumed after a suspension of nearly two months because of the Sars outbreak.