A group of Irish parents are to defy official travel warnings about the SARS outbreak by travelling to China in the coming days to collect babies they have adopted.
All 11 couples who were approved by the Chinese authorities recently for the adoption of a child have decided to travel, against the advice of the Adoption Board and the Department of Health.
A spokesman for the board said the couples were advised not to travel, but had opted to go anyway. In spite of its advice, the board had decided to facilitate them in the finalisation of their adoptions.
The couples have agreed to go into quarantine on their return, although one source said this "wasn't worth a scrap" because the arrangement was entirely voluntary.
They have also agreed not to travel to Beijing, where adoptions are usually finalised, and where an average of 100 new SARS cases are being reported each day.
Instead, they will travel to Shanghai, which reported only a handful of cases and which is not covered by the travel warning issued by the World Health Organisation last month.
Each couple would have received personal details and a photograph of the child they are about to adopt.
Some were reported to be distressed at the threat of a delay in completing the adoption, which would have taken several years to organise.
The Adoption Board says it is also waiting to hear whether the Chinese authorities plan to resume adoptions to Ireland, which were suspended at the end of last month.
The Chinese Centre of Adoption Affairs stopped issuing new referral letters until after the May Day holiday because of travel restrictions imposed after the SARS outbreak.
On average, about a dozen Irish couples are approved for the adoption of babies from China each month.
Earlier this month, the Department of Health issue a warning against travel to China, Hong Kong and Singapore because of the highly contagious disease, which has killed over 200 people in China alone.
