The speed of air travel and the multidirectional routes taken by affected passengers accelerated the spread of SARS with a consequential response from the World Health Organization (WHO), the aviation industry and the public.

Until this event, it was thought that there was only a significant risk of infection in flights of more than eight hours duration and in just the two adjacent seating rows.

[6] The 2003 SARS epidemic was caused by the then newly emerging subtype of coronavirus (SARS-CoV), which was previously unknown in humans.

[16] The following day he was taken by family members to a second hospital, where he was successfully resuscitated before being admitted with suspected atypical pneumonia.

[16] Following investigations, at least 59 people with SARS in Beijing were traced back to LSK, including three of his own family and six of the seven healthcare workers from the emergency room during his resuscitation.

[3] Flight attendant Meng Chungyun, age 27, travelled home to Inner Mongolia where she infected her mother, father, brother, doctor and husband Li Ling, who later died.

On 23 March 2003, a local hospital notified the Department of Health in Hong Kong of three people with SARS.

Contact tracing revealed that these three people were the same three that had joined the Beijing tourist group, 10 of whom also became unwell.

[15] The Flight 112 incident was one of the several superspreading events that contributed to the dissemination of the SARS virus in 2003.

Other super-spreaders, defined as those that transmit SARS to at least eight other people, included the incidents at the Hotel Metropole in Hong Kong, the Amoy Gardens apartment complex in Hong Kong and one in an acute care hospital in Toronto, Ontario, Canada.

[8] However, the virus had also been found to survive for days in the environment, giving rise to the possibility of spread by contact with surfaces including armrests and tray tables.

[9] The Lancet reported that "SARS exemplifies the ever-present threat of new infectious diseases and the real potential for rapid spread made possible by the volume and speed of air travel."

[6][18] Concerns from aircrew led to the Association of Flight Attendants in the United States to petition the Federal Aviation Administration to issue an emergency order requiring airlines to offer gloves and surgical masks to airline attendants, or at least allow them to bring their own.

Singapore adopted infra-red scanners, Taiwan introduced mandatory quarantine and in Toronto, health notification cards were endorsed.

[19] Some experts have criticised the restriction of air traffic and closing of national borders during outbreaks, stating that this can lead to difficulties in supplying medical aid to affected areas and closing borders may also deter healthcare workers.

In addition, in Michael T. Osterholm's 2017 book the Deadliest Enemy: Our War Against Killer Germs, he says "you have to screen many, many people to find anybody with an infectious disease".