Malaysian health officials have criticised Singapore for allowing passengers with Sars symptoms to board flights after two such passengers were detected in Kuala Lumpur, reports said today.

"Singapore health authorities should have stopped them from boarding the aircraft. This is worrying," health ministry deputy director-general Ismail Merican was quoted as saying by the New Straits Times.

On May 11, a 19-year-old from Japan who had visited Singapore was found to have a temperature of 39 degrees Celsius while o­n transit at the Kuala Lumpur International Airport.

A 29-year-old Bangladeshi businessman was also detected with a fever and cough at KLIA o­n his way back to Dhaka after travelling to Singapore.

Both have been hospitalised.

Rectify weaknesses

"We want to protect both countries as we want to stop the spread of the disease, but if there are weaknesses in the screening, they must be rectified as we do not want those with symptoms to board aircraft and cross the causeway," Ismail said.

If checks revealed the latest case was indeed a failure in screening procedures, he "would like Singapore to look into what it was doing," the Star quoted Ismail as saying.

Malaysia has taken a series of tough measures to contain the spread of the deadly virus, including ordering a quarantine o­n students from Sars-hit countries and Filipino workers.

Two people have died from seven Sars infections in Malaysia and there has been a major impact o­n business. -AFP