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China vows to fend killer flu out of border

(Xinhua)
Updated: 2009-05-05 11:45

No Discrimination, China Says

Monday's take-off of Chinese plane has been a result of a bilateral agreement between the governments, which allows both to send chartered flights to each other's country to lift their stranded nationals.

The agreement was reached even after diplomatic disputes whether China has taken discriminatory measures against Mexican citizens.

Hotel staff wearing masks gesture behind a lobby window to their colleagues from the same hotel group in Hong Kong May 4, 2009. [Agencies]

Mexican Foreign Minister Patricia Espinosa Cantellano has complained China's quarantine of some Mexican citizens with no symptoms of the virus was discriminatory and short of scientific evidence. He also reminded Mexican citizens not to travel to China until it corrected the discriminatory measures.

Related readings:  A(H1N1) Influenza Outbreak Related readings:  Quarantine measures 'proper and necessary'  No flu sign on quarantined passengers so far  Isolated hotel guests showered with gifts  Flu scare brings back memory of SARS  787 H1N1 flu cases in 17 countries

Foreign Ministry spokesman Ma Zhaoxu said on Monday that the country's medical quarantine of some passengers who had traveled on the same flight with the Mexican man who was infected with influenza A/H1N1 as necessary.

"The measures concerned are not targeted at Mexican citizens and there is no discrimination," he said in a press release. "This is purely a medical quarantine issue."

Ma said China hoped Mexico would be understanding of the measures adopted by China and handle this matter objectively and calmly given the overall situation of jointly addressing the epidemic.

He also said China and Mexico are friendly countries and China attaches great importance to diplomatic relations with Mexico.

"China is willing to enhance cooperation with Mexico and make joint efforts to combat the epidemic situation," said Ma.

All the 176 passengers and 13 crew aboard have been located and those who remained in China have been quarantined, including Mexicans.

More Inspection Teams

In another move to contain the epidemic, the government has stepped up checks on people entering the country by sending another six supervision teams to major provinces to prevent influenza A/H1N1 from spreading to the country, the top quality supervisor said Monday.

These teams went to provinces of Shandong, Hebei, Sichuan, Jiangsu, Zhejiang, Hunan, Hubei and Shaanxi and would work together with local authorities, according to the General Administration of Quality Supervision, Inspection and Quarantine (GAQSIQ).

GAQSIQ required all people entering China by air, land and sea to fill in personal health statement cards to strength control efforts.

The 6 teams were in addition to the previous 5 teams going to Beijing, Shanghai and Guangzhou on April 25.

Also on Monday, the Ministry of Health said it had listed A/H1N1 under the category of infectious diseases that warranted quarantine, and would quarantine people and material crossing China's borders that were suspected of transmitting the virus.

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