Quarantined people 'seem healthy'

By Xie Chuanjiao in Beijing and Huang Zhiling in Chengdu (China Daily)
Updated: 2009-05-12 08:16

A Japanese guest, who was staying at the hotel, voluntarily returned for quarantine from the airport. So did a French man, traveling with his wife and kid, on hearing the news, said Yu.

"All foreign and domestic guests are cooperating with the measures and are impressed with the way we are dealing with the situation," Yu said.

Deng said the local government had attached great importance to flu control and prevention in the capital and there was "no need to panic".

"The biggest challenge is to collect as much information as possible to track all the people that have had close contact with Bao," Deng said.

Authorities sent text messages to mobile phones nationwide Monday afternoon asking all those aboard Northwest Airlines flight NW029 from Tokyo to Beijing on Friday and Sichuan Airlines flight 3U8882 from Beijing to Chengdu on Saturday to report to the center.

Local hotlines are 64407013 and 12320.

Chengdu on high alert

People in Chengdu have stepped up vigilance after the mainland's first A(H1N1) case was confirmed in the city Monday.

When Xie Xiaoli, a young teacher in Paotongshu Primary School in the center of Chengdu, entered her classroom Monday to oversee lunch for her students, they had a good laugh at the way she looked.

"She donned a large mask," said Huang Leran, one of Xie's 50 students in Class 1, Grade 1.

Xie told China Daily that all teachers in primary schools in Chengdu have been asked to wear masks from now on when preparing food as a precaution against the A(H1N1) flu strain.

According to Yang Wei, chief of the city's bureau of health, all staff at city schools that offer lunch to students have been asked to wear masks.

Although they must now wear masks, none of the teachers was concerned that the flu posed a significant risk, Xie said, adding they were satisfied with the government's response.

Soon after the man was diagnosed as a suspected carrier of the virus on Sunday, the Sichuan provincial government and Chengdu municipal government started the emergency response programs.

"We feel the A(H1N1) influenza is not as dreadful as imagined," said Liu Yuhong, a 69-year-old pensioner.

The Xinhua News Agency said that the mortality rate of the A(H1N1) influenza is less than 1 percent, much lower than SARS. The news makes people like Liu feel the flu strain is not as daunting, although some have said Sichuan has been unlucky to have experienced the most destructive earthquake in recent history and China's first case of the influenza strain in less than one year.

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