Flu triggers diplomatic row

Steps by China to confine Mexicans to hotels and other sites, irrespective of whether they were showing symptoms of having the new flu virus or not, triggered a diplomatic row with Mexico yesterday.

A Mexican embassy official in Beijing said Chinese authorities were quarantining more than 50 Mexican business people and tourists inside, fearing the spread of the H1N1 flu, even though only one had symptoms of the flu.

Mexican Foreign Minister Patricia Espinosa on Saturday described the steps as "discriminatory", saying: "Mexican citizens showing no signs at all of being ill have been isolated under unacceptable conditions."

Beijing said its steps were justified and lawful.

Mexico's ambassador to Beijing, Jorge Guajardo, went to the Guo Men Hotel in the capital where more than 10 Mexicans have been held, but was not allowed to see to them, said the embassy official. She spoke on condition of anonymity.

The confined Mexicans were being held in hotels and other sites across several parts of China, including Hong Kong, said the embassy official. About 35 were in Shanghai, six in the far southern city of Guangzhou, and six in Hong Kong, she said. "All of them have no symptoms," said the official, adding that the exception was a Mexican man under quarantine in Hong Kong who was found to have the H1N1 virus.

"These are discriminatory measures, without foundation...The Foreign Ministry recommends avoiding travelling to China until these measures are corrected," Mexican Foreign Minister Espinosa said.

Mr Espinosa also condemned China, Argentina, Peru, Ecuador and Cuba for suspending flights from Mexico due to the flu outbreak. Mexico traditionally has had good ties with all of those nations.

Chinese Ministry of Health spokesman Mao Qun'an said extra protections had been needed after a Mexican man now confined in Hong Kong was found to have the H1N1 virus.

"The confirmation of this case clearly raised the risks of A-H1N1 flu entering our country," Mr Mao said in an interview with the official Xinhua news agency.

A ministry directive demands that all people who have had "close contact" with the virus be placed under "preventive control," he said.

China's vast population and patchy medical infrastructure makes it particularly vulnerable should the virus take hold.

The Mexican man with the H1N1 virus arrived in Hong Kong from Mexico on Thursday following a stopover in Shanghai.

Many of the confined Mexicans were on that same flight to Shanghai, but others had reached China on flights from Los Angeles, Newark and Vancouver, said the embassy official.

China's Ministry of Health said officials have found all the passengers still in the country who took the flight from Mexico to Shanghai with the flu-infected man.

They all are in isolation, and as of midday yesterday "none was found to have fever or other symptoms", said the statement on the Ministry's website.