Dozens of US high school students quarantined in a central Chinese city after some of their classmates were diagnosed with swine flu have been cleared for release, an employee of the city’s swine flu command center said yesterday.
Thirty-five students and teachers quarantined at the Ruihao Hotel in Yichang City were to go to Shanghai later yesterday, said the employee, who would only give his surname, Chen.
A hotel receptionist who declined to give her name confirmed that the group would be leaving.
The other seven in the group from the private Pacific Ridge School in Carlsbad, California, tested positive for the A(H1N1) virus were hospitalized in stable condition.
Chen said one of the seven, a 15-year-old Taiwanese boy, had recovered and was to be picked up by his father yesterday.
The Americans could not be reached by phone, and the US embassy in Beijing had no immediate comment about the group.
In South Korea, the Ministry of Health said yesterday that an Australian lacrosse team was released after a five-day quarantine, put in place after a player tested positive on arrival in the country.
The US students, who left for China on June 2, visited Beijing and Xi’an and embarked on a river cruise to the Three Gorges Dam when a handful of students and one teacher started feeling sick.
When the boat docked, they were taken to a nearby hospital.
The total number of cases in China rose to 264, but no deaths have occurred, the health ministry said.
China plans to conduct regular health checks at schools, nurseries, homes for the aged and construction sites in the event of a swine flu outbreak at the community level, it said in a new work plan released on Wednesday. Further steps in a worsening outbreak include shutting schools, nurseries and entertainment venues and canceling large gatherings.
The virus continued to spread across the region.
New Zealand’s swine flu count rose to 153 yesterday, adding 26 new cases. A state-run prison in the capital, Wellington, had 50 inmates in quarantine after three in the low-security unit were isolated with suspected cases.
The WHO has warned countries to prepare for a second wave of infections once their outbreaks have peaked, saying the virus could mutate.
When Shanghai-based designer Guo Qingshan posted a vacation photo on Valentine’s Day and captioned it “Puppy Mountain,” it became a sensation in China and even created a tourist destination. Guo had gone on a hike while visiting his hometown of Yichang in central China’s Hubei Province late last month. When reviewing the photographs, he saw something he had not noticed before: A mountain shaped like a dog’s head rested on the ground next to the Yangtze River, its snout perched at the water’s edge. “It was so magical and cute. I was so excited and happy when I discovered it,” Guo said.
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