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More people lifted out of flu quarantine

(Xinhua)
Updated: 2009-05-16 10:02

BEIJING - At least sixteen people who were quarantined for A(H1N1) flu symptoms were lifted out of medical observation in China Friday as the country's infection cases remained at two.

Health authorities in east China's Zhejiang and Jiangsu provinces said those released from quarantine included 15 people who had close contact with confirmed A(H1N1) flu infection cases in Japan earlier this month. They didn't show any flu symptoms.

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The 16th person who was also lifted of medical observation Friday afternoon was in Jiangsu Province. This person was said to be in the same flight AC029 with Lu, China's second confirmed case in Shandong. Neither this person, nor his family members showed any flu symptoms, said Jiangsu Provincial Health Department.

Health authorities in Chengdu City, capital of southwest China's Sichuan Province, said Friday apart from Bao, the country's first confirmed A(H1N1) flu infection case, no other new A(H1N1) flu infections, either suspected or confirmed, occurred in the city.

He Jun, spokesman of Chengdu Health Bureau, said Bao, who had been admitted to Chengdu Infectious Disease Hospital for the flu infection since six days ago, had been recovering steadily.

More than 120 people who had been quarantined at a camp in Chengdu for having had close contact with Bao or Lu were also doing fine. No flu symptoms were detected.

He disclosed that health experts were considering to lift this group of 120 or so people out of medical observation over the weekend.

China has been high alert since the start of this month when a Mexican, a 25-year-old male, arrived in Shanghai April 30 aboard flight Aeromexico 098, which carried 176 people and 13 crew members. This Mexican national was later diagnosed with influenza A(H1N1) in Hong Kong.

Health authorities confirmed two Chinese nationals, Bao and Lu, who had been students in the United States and Canada, and were traveling back to their homes in the past days of the month, contracted the flu strain and developed symptoms shortly after they set foot in China.

Shandong's flu case, the second known case on the Chinese mainland, involved a 19-year-old student surnamed Lu who arrived in Beijing from Canada May 8 flight AC029 and traveled to Jinan three days later.

Lu, who was hospitalized Monday, is in an isolation ward in the Jinan Hospital of Infectious Diseases. Medical workers say Lu is recovering.

The search for people in China who had exposure to the A(H1N1) flu infection cases in Japan, Hong Kong and in the Chinese mainland is ongoing.

According to latest statistics released by Chinese Ministry of Health Friday, 442 people had been put under quarantine as of 5 p.m. May 14.

The government is still looking for 32 people who are believed to have been in close contact with the two people confirmed to have the A(H1N1) flu strain.

With no new human infections of A(H1N1), the epidemic seems to be stabilized in China. Yet, the efforts to control and prevent spreading of the flu have by no means slackened.

In Beijing, Deng Xiaohong, deputy chief of Beijing Municipal Health Bureau, said every international traveler in the national capital would be given a brochure containing flu control and prevention advisories beginning Friday.

The brochure, which is bilingual in both Chinese and English, suggests that upon entry in Beijing, returned overseas Chinese students or foreign nationals should keep their flight information intact, and take the initiatives to receive medical observation in case new flu infections occur.

In accordance with the advisories listed out in the brochure, international travelers should not organize get-togethers or visit friends or relatives within seven days upon their arrival in Beijing.