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The University of California, Berkeley’s recent ban on students from SARS-affected countries studying at the campus this summer has members of the local community wondering if UCLA will make a similar announcement.

In a statement Tuesday, UCLA officials said they are still considering whether to instate a comparable ban and that they will “continue to monitor the situation” with the L.A. County Department of Health Services.

DHS does not currently think such a ban is necessary, the statement said.

Berkeley Chancellor Robert Berdahl announced Friday that students from four SARS-affected areas in Asia would not be allowed at Berkeley’s summer session.

The UC Office of the President followed Berkeley’s announcement by issuing its own recommendations on Monday. UCOP suggested that officials from each campus “strongly consider” holding off on programs that include students from SARS-affected countries.

UCOP also advised students and faculty against traveling to regions where SARS is prevalent while the Center for Disease Control’s travel warnings are in effect.

A CDC official said Tuesday that Berkeley’s situation is unique because the number of students planning on coming to Berkeley from SARS-affected countries is unusually high.

About 600 students from areas such as China, Hong Kong, Taiwan and Singapore who were to enroll in Berkeley’s English Language Program will be affected.

The university said it may lose up to $2 million as a result of the ban.

Berkeley officials cited their worry that they would not be prepared to handle a SARS outbreak on campus as their chief motivation in enacting this policy.

It’s not entirely clear what the effects of a ban on students from SARS-affected countries would have on UCLA.

Julie Jaskol, manager of public affairs for UCLA Extension, said during the summer, Extension usually hosts about 100 students from countries currently affected by SARS, though she said that these students don’t represent the “lion’s share.”

“Certainly a hundred students represents a financial loss,” Jaskol said.

Extension’s American Language Center would probably be affected the most, Jaskol said.

Lawrence Gower, director of the Office of International Students and Scholars, said that such a ban on students enrolling in the fall – not the summer – would have a noticeable impact on UCLA.

“It would affect the overall posture of UCLA as an international institution,” Gower said.

Gower said it is hard to speculate, but since a large proportion of international students in his program are from Asia, a ban on students from countries with SARS would affect research efforts and teaching.

The Office of International Students and Scholars enrolls about 2,500 international students and about the same number of scholars in UCLA undergraduate and graduate classes and programs.

SARS, a respiratory ailment that has surfaced in Asia, North America and Europe, has sickened 6,727 people and killed 478 people worldwide.

The CDC has issued travel advisories for China, Hong Kong, Singapore and Taiwan. Travel alerts have been enacted for Hanoi, Vietnam, Toronto and Canada, meaning travelers in these locations should take precautions to maintain their health.

A new study of SARS in Hong Kong found that 20 percent of people who are hospitalized for SARS die from it, while more than half of SARS patients, who are over 60-years old, die.

With reports from Daily Bruin wire services.