China prepares to release some from flu quarantine

The flight arrived in Shanghai from Mexico last Thursday. After the man was diagnosed with swine flu in Hong Kong, Chinese officials scrambled to locate and quarantine the other 166 passengers and crew who had been on the flight and remained on the mainland.

Mexico has reported 840 of the nearly 1,600 confirmed cases of swine flu in 20 countries worldwide. China's Health Ministry says the country has no confirmed or suspected cases of swine flu.

The ministry's announcement was made a day after Mexico flew dozens of its nationals home from China, freeing them from a quarantine that the Latin American country criticized as unfair and discriminatory. Of the 71 Mexicans China held at hospitals and hotels in China, none had swine flu symptoms and most had no contact with infected people or places, Mexican diplomats said.

China defended its measures to block the swine flu virus from entering the world's most populous nation, with the Cabinet saying Beijing will continue to impose strict medical examinations and checks on travelers from swine flu-hit regions. The quarantines have also ensnared several American travelers.

About 100 Chinese nationals were to return to Shanghai Wednesday on a government flight after being stranded when China canceled all direct flights to Mexico.

Elsewhere in the Asia-Pacific region, governments were also cautious. New Zealand said officials have placed 358 people in isolation or quarantine and were treating them with the antiviral drug Tamiflu.

But Health Ministry deputy director of public health Dr. Fran McGrath said New Zealand has cut to five the number of laboratory-confirmed swine flu cases in the country after a false result from one test.

The Philippine health secretary urged Filipino boxing idol Manny Pacquiao to postpone his triumphant return to his homeland after beating Ricky Hatton to help prevent the spread of swine flu from the United States.

Health Secretary Francisco Duque III told reporters the World Health Organization made the "strong recommendation" for Pacquiao and his entourage to remain in Los Angeles and observe self-quarantine until next week because the virus was found to have spread in that U.S. city.

In South Korea, the country's second confirmed case of swine flu was released from a military-run hospital after recovering, Health Ministry spokesman Oh Sung-il said.

North Korea said Wednesday it had no cases of swine flu, but that it was strengthening precautions. Foreigners entering the country were "strictly quarantined" and those suspected of being infected were placed in isolation for medical observation, according to the official Korean Central News Agency. The report did not say how many people were affected.

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