An extraordinary session of the Council of EU Ministers for Health was held in Brussels in recent days to discuss the Sars emergency. In the four page document issued at the end of the meeting, the Council reports that it had examined the situation of the respiratory syndrome and proposed a series of measures to reinforce the degree of European preparation in the framework of the EU action programme for public health. In particular, the member states were invited to “proceed to the prompt and effective identification of all suspect and probable cases of Sars and their proper isolation in hospitals”; protect hospital staff in contact with patients; implement measures to inform the public and medical personnel; “adopt coordinated measures throughout the European Union to trace international travellers who arrive in or depart from the stricken areas”; and begin a programme of exchange of data and information with the Commission and with the World Health Organization. The Council also set up an ad hoc group of experts with the mandate of providing support to the necessary measures, and also decided unanimously to create a European treatment centre by June.
