Johannesburg - Airport authorities in South Africa on Wednesday said the swine flu outbreak had provided impetus to plans for the installation of technology that can help detect the virus among travellers, according to press and radio reports. Bongani Maseko, operations director of the Airports Company of South Africa (ACSA), which manages the country's airports, was quoted gave details of the plans to thermal image detection systems in light of the outbreak.

"They would certainly help ... to detect people who may be carrying the disease," he told the South African Broadcasting Corporation.

He gave no indication of when the technology, which measures body temperature, would be actually be put to use.

South Africa, which has no known cases of the new influenza, has placed its ports of entry are on high alert.