Malaysia Airlines today announced that it has cancelled several flights to Singapore and Hong Kong amid a global health scare over a deadly pneumonia which has badly affected the two cities.

The national carrier has suspended o­ne of its daily flights to Hong Kong between April 4 and April 30 and dropped two daily flights to Singapore between April 7 and May 28 because of the outbreak of Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome ( Sars ).

Passengers already booked o­n the affected flights would be transferred to remaining flights, the airline said in a statement.

Protective masks would be issued to passengers displaying flu-like symptoms and the airport of destination would be alerted if a possible Sars victim was detected.

Worldwide, Sars has claimed more that 70 lives and there have been over 2,200 cases in 17 countries, according to World Health Organization figures.

The government has advised its citizens to avoid travel to affected areas, and put in place strict measures to prevent the spread of the disease, including temporarily halting the intake of workers from affected areas. AFP