Malaysia will place all students from Sars-affected countries under a 10-day quarantine from Sunday as some 30,000 foreign students, mostly from China, start arriving for the June intake, officials said.

"No student placed under quarantine will be allowed to go out unless he or she is escorted by health officers," a health ministry offical told AFP .

Universities and colleges nationwide had given assurances that they would strictly abide by the directive, which aims to block the spread of the deadly Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome (Sars), the official said.

Temperature taken daily

Some universities would quarantine the students within the campus grounds while those without hostel facilities would do so outside.

"The universities are providing students with all the basic necessities, including television sets, reading materials and food, to ensure they are comfortable during the quarantine period," he added.

Health officials would take the temperature of students each day and those displaying Sars symptoms would be sent to hospital.

Sars, which has killed more than 320 people in China, has had a limited impact in Malaysia, with just two deaths and five probable cases reported.

Quarantine lifted

The health ministry also said that some 200 crew of a Malaysian navy ship have been released from quarantine after no evidence of a Sars outbreak was found.

The crew were isolated as a precautionary measure last week following the death of two sailors from the same ship in three days. Both had high temperatures but o­nly the second victim showed signs of pneumonia.

Following various tests, the health ministry has ruled out Sars as the cause of death for the second victim, officials said.

Screening measures

Health deputy director-general Dr Mohd Ismail Merican said Malaysian and Singaporean officials would seek to tighten screening measures at their border at a June 6 meeting in the republic.

The meeting would discuss a Singapore proposal for the two countries to station officials at each other's checkpoints to observe screening procedures, he was quoted as saying by Bernama news agency.

Singapore has called for greater cooperation with Malaysia in the fight to contain Sars and said they should avoid "recriminations" over alleged exports of the disease from the city-state to its larger neighbor.

Thousands of Malaysians travel daily to work in the island-state, where 31 people have died of Sars. Singaporeans are also the biggest group of visitors to Malaysia. AFP