China Forces Dozens of Mexican Travelers Into Quarantine

[Coventina]

Source: Wall Street Journal

BEIJING -- The A/H1N1 flu outbreak is leading to a potential diplomatic row between China and Mexico, as Chinese health authorities round up and quarantine scores of Mexicans -- only one of whom is thus far reported to be sick -- as they fly in on business and holiday trips.

Mexico's foreign minister said Mexican citizens with no signs of infection had been isolated in "unacceptable conditions" in China. Patricia Espinosa told a news conference Saturday that such measures were "discriminatory and ungrounded" and that the government is advising Mexicans to stay away from China.

She also criticized four Latin American countries -- Argentina, Peru, Ecuador and Cuba -- for suspending flights coming from Mexico against the recommendation of the World Health Organization.

More than 70 Mexicans are in isolation around China, according to Mexican officials, and that number is rising as Mexican travelers call in to their embassy to report their plight.



Read more: http://online.wsj.com/article/SB124137876507580987.html

[Coventina]

1. Mexico Objects to Quarantines in China

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/05/05/health/05china.html

BEIJING — The Chinese authorities have confined dozens of Mexicans to hotels and hospitals despite having no signs of human swine virus, Mexican consular officials said Monday, leading the Mexican government to accuse China of unfairly quarantining its nationals and acting without regard to internationally accepted public health practices.

Further, China suspended all flights from Mexico on Saturday, leaving 120 Chinese tourists without any clear way to return home. Mexico now has plans to fly its nationals home on a chartered flight. Since last Thursday, when an AeroMexico flight from Mexico City arrived in Shanghai with an infected man, Chinese health officials have been rounding up his fellow passengers as well travelers on other flights who showed no signs of illness.

But authorities also isolated a number of Mexican passport holders who had not been home in months, including a consular official in Guangzhou who was placed in quarantine after he returned to China from a trip to Cambodia. The quarantined Mexicans are being held at hotels and hospitals in Beijing, Shanghai, Guangzhou and a number of other cities. So far, none have fallen ill, according to Chinese health officials,

Mexico’s president, Felipe Calderon, lashed out on Sunday at countries that he said were “acting out of ignorance and disinformation” and taking “repressive, discriminatory measures.” He did not identify what countries he was referring to.