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China's precautions understandable: returned Mexicans

(Xinhua)
Updated: 2009-05-07 14:24

MEXICO CITY -- Mexicans who returned home on Wednesday from quarantines in China expressed understanding of the precautious measures taken by the Chinese government.

Contemporary artist Roberto Arcaute, who had been living in China since 2007, said that "they (the Chinese authorities) treated me really well."

The measures taken by the Chinese authorities were "just a preventive measure and by no means discrimination," he said.

"They treated me well, I was in a hotel," said Arcaute, adding that he had been provided hermetic suits and other sanitary materials.

Arcaute was among 136 Mexicans who had been put into quarantine in different Chinese cities for possible A/H1N1 flu infections.

Full coverage:  A（H1N1）Influenza Outbreak Related readings: China lifts quarantine on passengers from Mexico Foreigners amenable to quarantine move China adopts, defends strict quarantine amid flu threat China says quarantine of Canadian students legal China continues strict quarantine policies

The great caution of the Chinese government was due to what they had experienced in the SARS outbreak in 2003, Marai Lourdes Castaneda, who returned on the same plane dispatched by the Mexican government, said at a press conference.

"The fear is understandable after what they have been through," Castaneda said.

"I wish we (in Mexico) had the same care as the Chinese have in avoiding infections," said Businessman Alfredo Hakim when talking about his experience in China.

"We stayed in quarantine for seven days" in a hotel, Hakim said, adding that the Chinese government had provided them with food and sanitary materials for their protection.

On May 1, 13 crew members and 166 passengers on board a flight carrying a Mexican passenger who has been tested positive of the flu were quarantined in China.