MADRID , Spain ( CNN ) -- A restaurateur has gone to great lengths to tackle the spread of the H1N1 virus in his eatery , including taking staff 's temperatures before they start work and preventing them from touching plates directly . Kitchen staff at Silk and Soya restaurant in Spain wear face masks and gloves while preparing food . Silk and Soya , a Thai-themed restaurant in Madrid , Spain , implemented the measures to prevent the spread of the H1N1 virus , also known as swine flu , in the upscale locale . `` We implemented these measures so that our employees would serve only food , not a virus , '' restaurant owner Cipri Quintas told CNN . As well as employees having their temperatures taken before starting their shifts , windows are opened to aerate the restaurant before meals . Each table is set at least one meter -- 3.2 feet -- from any other table . Any member of the kitchen staff involved in food preparation must wear a mask and gloves , and waiters are required to hold napkins when carrying plates to avoid touching them directly with their hands . Upon entering the elevators leading to the top-floor restaurant , customers find an automatic disinfectant gel dispenser . At each table , diners find a packet of gel next to their silverware . The restaurant 's restroom doors are propped open , the lights turn on automatically and the faucets are hands-free -- measures intended to keep customers from having to touch surfaces after they 've washed their hands . Similar initiatives are under way around the world . Last spring , during the peak of the scare in Mexico City , restaurants were closed for 12 days . When the restaurants reopened , the government ordered owners to put extra space between the tables and not to allow more than half of seats to be filled at any given time ; cooks and waiters were mandated to wear surgical masks . The World Health Organization 's Web site states that hand-washing is one of the best ways to prevent infection and provides instructions with drawings that can be printed and posted in public places , such as restaurants . Silk and Soya 's Quintas started his anti-H1N1 measures in August and has already proved popular with some customers . Simona Savin , who was having lunch , told CNN , `` These are measures you do n't see everywhere . Here you have everything . They are great because there 's a need for hygiene . '' Another diner , swimming coach Fernando Barea , said , `` We came to the restaurant because we heard good things about it and I wanted to see these measures against the H1N1 flu . These measures should be used by other restaurants . '' Quintas predicted they soon will be . `` People from other businesses like hotels and theaters have called us asking , 'What have you done ? Can we come see your setup ? ' There 's been a big response , '' said Quintas . He insisted that his goal is not solely to garner publicity , but to protect his customers and staff -- a responsibility , he said , that the business community at large should undertake . One expert on the disease applauded the efforts and recommended they be broadened . `` They should implement them every winter against all respiratory diseases , '' said Dr. Tom Jefferson , a medical epidemiologist with the Cochrane Collaboration . The international organization reviews health care interventions and `` promotes the search for evidence in the form of clinical trials and other studies of interventions , '' according to its Web site . As of September 13 , the WHO had tallied more than 296,000 cases worldwide , 3,486 of them fatal .
Thai-themed restaurant in Madrid implements anti H1N1 flu measures . Employees have their temperatures taken , windows are opened , gel provided . Restaurant owner says there is `` a big response '' from other owners .