The recommendations contained in the Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome (SARS) Expert Committee's report need to be undertaken proactively and quickly, including the setting up of a center for health protection, said HK health chief Thursday.

Secretary for Health, Welfare and Food Yeoh Eng-kiong said Hong Kong is densely populated and the ease at which people come and go make Hong Kong extremely susceptible to the threat and full impact of new infectious diseases such as SARS.

Therefore, it is of the utmost importance to improve the disease surveillance , prevention and control system.

He noted that he accepted the criticism made in the report and would shoulder the responsibility for what he called misunderstandings caused by his comments in the early stages of the outbreak.

Yeoh made a public apology to the people of Hong Kong , including those who was infected by SARS and relatives of those who died of SARS.

Yeoh said he had considered resignation from his post, but later decided to continue to work flat out with his colleagues to fight SARS.

The SARS Expert Committee, set up on May 28, aims at reviewing the management and control of SARS outbreak in Hong Kong. The committee submitted Thursday a full report, titled SARS in Hong Kong, from Experience to Action, to Hong Kong Chief Executive Tung Chee Hwa.

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