Editors Note:
The irony of China – the country that brought us catastrophically lax and incompetent production of a pig-based intraveneous drug, Heparin, now claiming to have found a new and better way to test for Swine Flu – is staggering. If the Chinese can use their technological capabilities to find a Swine Flu test then why didn’t they use that expertise to make sure that the Heparin raw material that came from their factories, was pure? Swine flu will likely not cause 10 deaths in China. Chinese Heparin may have caused thousands of deaths in the U.S. See http://heparindeaths.blogspot.com and http://heparin-law.com
Attorney Gordon Johnson
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Date: 5/4/2009 6:14 AM
DIKKY SINN
Associated Press Writers
HONG KONG (AP) — China on Monday defended its tough quarantine measures against Mexican tourists after a visitor from the Latin American country became Asia’s first swine flu case, while New Zealand recorded its sixth case of the disease.
After the 25-year-old Mexican man was diagnosed in this Asian financial hub Friday night, Beijing and Hong Kong quickly shifted into crisis management mode, employing quarantine measures that an angry Mexico has labeled as “discriminatory.” The Mexican government announced it would charter a plane to bring its citizens home from China.
South Korea confirmed Asia’s second case of the disease over the weekend, but said Monday that the woman — a nun who had visited Mexico —already had recovered. Elsewhere in the region, New Zealand reported a sixth laboratory-confirmed case of the disease.
East Timor’s president, Jose Ramos-Horta, canceled a trip this week to Seoul, citing fears of swine flu. His spokesman said Ramos-Horta had been scheduled to be in Korea May 3-7 to speak at an international forum being co-hosted by the United Nations but canceled “due to the issue of the very dangerous swine flu.”
Hong Kong imposed a weeklong quarantine on the downtown hotel where the Mexican man stayed, trapping 350 guests and employees inside, while Chinese health officials also tracked down and quarantined 128 of the Mexican’s fellow passengers.
In addition, Jorge Guajardo, the Mexican ambassador to China, told The Associated Press in an interview late Sunday that Chinese officials have rounded up more than 70 Mexicans indiscriminately elsewhere in China including Beijing, Shanghai, Guangzhou and Tianjin.
In one case, a Mexican couple and their three small children were rousted from their Beijing hotel room at 4 a.m. and transported to a hospital, he said. None of those in isolation has presented symptoms and most had no contact with infected persons or places, he said.
“In many cases, we have gotten reports that they were being quarantined for the sole fact that they had a Mexican passport, whether or not they came from Mexico, whether or not they had been in Mexico, whether or not they had been in contact with someone else from Mexico,” Guajardo said.
Mexican President Felipe Calderon expressed dismay Sunday that “some countries or places are taking discriminatory measures because of ignorance and misinformation.”
Mexican officials said late Sunday they would charter an Aeromexico airliner to take home any Mexican citizens who want to leave China.
China’s Foreign Ministry said Mexicans were not being singled out and added it hoped Mexico would “address the issue in an objective and calm manner.”
“The relevant measures are not targeted at Mexican citizens, and are not discriminatory. This is purely a question of health inspection and quarantine,” the ministry said in a statement.
In South Korea, the country’s first confirmed swine flu patient was released Monday from a military-run hospital after recovering from the disease, Health Ministry spokesman Oh Sung-il said. The 51-year-old Catholic nun was hospitalized since early last week when she reported having flu symptoms following a trip to Mexico.
Two other South Korean women were under quarantine as “probable” cases.
Meanwhile, New Zealand reported two more cases of swine flu Monday for a total of six. The cases came 10 days after a group of high school students returned from Mexico with the first confirmed cases of the illness, sparking a nationwide alert.
All of the cases were either people returning from affected areas or those with close contact with an infected person, said Dr. Fran McGrath, deputy director of public health.
“There is still no evidence of community transmission,” she said.
The Mexican quarantined in Hong Kong was “doing well” and recovering, Hans Troedsson, head of the World Health Organization’s Beijing office, told The Associated Press in an interview Monday.
Troedsson wouldn’t comment on China’s quarantine measures directly, saying such measures are “really up to each country.”
In Hong Kong, which has defended the quarantine as necessary to prevent the spread of the disease, a quick diagnostic test for swine flu is now available, said Yuen Kwok-yung, a microbiologist who studied the SARS virus. The test, which could yield results in four hours, will be distributed to all laboratories in the city.
“The laboratories are ready to handle any outbreak where testing is being required,” Yuen said, adding Hong Kong will be able to handle 2,000 specimens a day in two weeks’ time.
Hong Kong officials have already tracked down and quarantined two taxi drivers who had driven the Mexican patient. Neither driver initially showed signs of illness.
The quarantined hotel in Hong Kong remained under lockdown Monday. One guest, Briton Mark Moore, complained that he had not shown symptoms and urged the government to lift the quarantine.
“The government is trying to show the world they are strong in organizing this,” the 37-year-old Singapore-based company director said in a phone interview Monday. “I need to be in Singapore now. I have loads of things to do.”
Another guest, Singapore resident Juliet Keys, said stranded travelers have shared drinks and Indian takeout.
“It’s really boring just being stuck in your room, but people have started to make a few friends,” said the 41-year-old human resources manager, originally from Northampton, England.
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Associated Press writers Audra Ang and Christopher Bodeen in Beijing and Ray Lilley in New Zealand contributed to this report.1
Copyright 2009 The Associated Press.
