Suspected case found in Shandong

A suspected case of H1N1 flu has been reported in Shandong province, the Ministry of Health said last night, the announcement coming a day after the Chinese mainland confirmed its first case.

A 19-year-old student surnamed Lu has been isolated in a Jinan hospital; and tests yesterday showed he possibly contracted the virus.

Lu, who was studying in a college in Canada, arrived in Beijing at 2:30 pm by flight AC029 last Friday.

On Sunday, his temperature rose to 39 C, and the following day, was accompanied by a sore throat and a headache.

At 7:25 pm on Monday, Lu departed Beijing by train D41 and, from the train itself, alerted the Jinan Center for Disease Prevention and Control (CDC), which picked him up when the train arrived in the city at 10:35 pm.

Li Dexin, director of the Institute for Viral Disease Control and Prevention of the China CDC, said Lu's sample was sent to Beijing yesterday and a result is expected this morning.

But Li said the suspected case is "imported", so there is no need to raise the country's alert level because no human-to-human transmission has been found on the mainland.

Meanwhile, the mainland's first H1N1 flu patient is recovering and most of his fellow passengers are under close medical observation, the Ministry of Health said.

The 30-year-old Chinese patient surnamed Bao, who became ill after returning from the US to Sichuan province, was reported to be "in good spirits".

As of yesterday morning, 201 of the 233 passengers who traveled with Bao on flight NW 029 from Tokyo to Beijing had been placed under medical observation.

Also, all but two of the 10 crew and 150 passengers onboard Sichuan Airlines flight 3U8882 which took Bao from Beijing to Chengdu have contacted the authorities, the ministry said.

From 6 pm on Sunday to 6 pm on Monday, border quarantine authorities checked 477,114 inbound travelers across the country, of whom 63 were handed over to local health departments for exhibiting flu symptoms like fever or acute inflammation. At least 577 aircraft and 729 ships were also checked and disinfected.

A total of 5,251 people have been infected in 30 countries, according to the WHO tally yesterday, which included 61 deaths. Hardest hit were Mexico with 2,059 cases, including 56 deaths, and the US with 2,600 cases including three deaths.