Swine Flu: China's responses on swine flu

2009-05-06T14:24:00.000-07:00

**NOTE**

Red text = main idea

Blue text = additional opinion

New York Times - “Mexico Objects to Quarantines in China”

By MARC LACEY and ANDREW JACOBS
Published on May 4, 2009

Source: http://travel.nytimes.com/2009/05/05/world/asia/05china.html?scp=1&sq=swine%20flu%20mexico%20china&st=cse

Mexico objects to quarantines over swine flu in China

Even as Fears of Flu Ebb, Mexicans Feel Stigma

MEXICO CITY — Medical experts are calling the new influenza virus A(H1N1), but for many Mexicans it is simply a scarlet A.

On Saturday, Chinese authorities began confining dozens of seemingly healthy Mexicans to hotels and hospitals, even escorting some from their hotels in the middle of the night for testing, Mexican consular officials said Monday.

Chinese officials said they were seeking to isolate passengers on an aircraft that had at least one infected passenger, but the Mexican government accused China of unfairly quarantining its citizens and acting without regard to accepted public health practices.

Mexican diplomats were also angered by the suspension by four Latin American nations — Argentina, Peru, Ecuador and Cuba — of flights from Mexico in response to the flu outbreak.

China’s actions posed the biggest challenge — and elicited the sharpest response. Mexico said it would fly its citizens home from China on a chartered flight on Tuesday, including 70 people being held in quarantine.

Mexico’s president, Felipe Calderón, lashed out on Sunday at unnamed countries that he said were “acting out of ignorance and disinformation” and taking “repressive, discriminatory measures.” [China, undoubtedly..] The foreign minister, Patricia Espinosa, urged Mexicans to stay away from China and Hong Kong, calling their actions “unjustified” [China just tried to their best on scanning and preventing the outbreak due to they had experienced the same situation causing huge death tolls before, in 2003, SARS.]

Some epidemiologists agreed with the characterization.

“Quarantine is a concept that dates back to when you could enter a country only at a few ports, and there is almost no country in the world where that is true anymore,” said Dr. Andrew T. Pavia, a University of Utah professor who is chairman of the pandemic influenza task force of the Infectious Diseases Society of America.

Dr. Tim F. Jones, Tennessee’s state epidemiologist, said China’s actions were understandable given that nation’s experiences with SARS and avian influenza. [Agreed] But just as the United States will soon ease its mitigation measures like school closings, he said, he hoped that Chinese officials “would ease up, too.”

The strain of swine flu circulating now does not appear to be nearly as dangerous as was initially feared, so measures to control its spread should be no more severe than those used to control the usual seasonal influenzas, Dr. Jones said. “There is no trail of dead bodies,” he said. [But still can’t find the way to control it? Yet, the death tolls and infected cases are likely to increase?]

Since Thursday, when an infected passenger from Mexico City arrived in Hong Kong, Chinese health officials have been rounding up his fellow passengers, as well as some Mexican travelers on other flights who showed no sign of illness. The man who arrived Thursday is the only confirmed case of swine flu in China.

Among those the authorities have sequestered are a number of Mexican passport holders who had not been home in months, including a consular official in Guangzhou who was briefly held and tested after he returned to China from a trip to Cambodia.

According to Mexican consular officials, those taken from their hotel rooms included some families with small children, who were initially told that they would be tested for the H1N1 virus and released, but were later informed that they would be held for a week.

Ma Zhaoxu, a spokesman for the Chinese Foreign Ministry, said the quarantine measures were justified given the fast spread of the new flu strain.

“We hope Mexico could proceed from the overall interest of joint response to the disease, fully understand the necessary measures we have taken, and handle the issue in an objective and calm manner,” he said in a statement. [In fact, Mexico interprets the response of China on the other way.]

Mexican citizens are not the only ones being quarantined. On Sunday, a group of 22 exchange students from the University of Montreal in Canada were confined to a hotel in the northern city of Changchun, university officials said Monday. [Also four Americans are/were quarantined in China. That means China has suspected residents of any country which has high rate of swine flu cases.]

The one infected man on the AeroMexico flight is currently hospitalized in Hong Kong. Before being hospitalized, the man briefly stayed at the Metropark Hotel there, where about 300 guests and employees have been required to remain inside for a week. [China, sometimes, did ways too much on restriction. They should have at least given the suspects enough information of why they are quarantined not just asked (forced) them to.]

In Beijing, 10 Mexican citizens have been confined to the Guomen Hotel, which sits directly behind the city’s designated influenza pandemic hospital. On Sunday, the Mexican consul delivered food to the hotel, but he was not allowed to talk to the sequestered guests.

Amid the uncertainty of the outbreak, Mexicans are also being subjected to discrimination by other Mexicans. [Partly because of media coverage made people assume that virus was originated by Mexicans or/and Mexico City residents. Maybe it was the reason Mexico got alarmed of China’s response to its citizens.]

Late last week, a crowd of people in the Mexican state of Guerrero stoned two cars that had license plates from Mexico City. The protesters were apparently worried by the arrival of people from the capital, where the influenza has hit hardest.

Mexican officials are eager to underscore the uncertainties about the origins of the disease. Mr. Córdova, who has led Mexico’s response to the crisis, makes the point subtly, noting in his daily news briefings that the earliest cases were detected “in the United States and Mexico,” always, mentioning the countries in that order.

Irked that some in the United States — especially groups that favor limiting the number of Mexican immigrants — have begun calling the virus “the Mexican flu,” some radio commentators in Mexico City have fired back with a label of their own for the outbreak: “California flu.”

Bangkok Post - “Mexico to fly quarantined citizens home from China”

By: AFP
Published: 5/05/2009 at 11:56 AM

Source: http://www.bangkokpost.com/news/asia/142382/mexico-to-fly-quarantined-citizens-home-from-china

Mexico to fly quarantined citizens home from China

Mexico prepared Tuesday to fly home dozens of nationals quarantined in China under controversial anti swine-flu measures, as Beijing faced renewed criticism over the isolation of 22 Canadians [and 3 professors]. [With its dictatorship, making its ways of dealing with spreading virus seems so far beyond the line.]

Mexican travelers held at a Beijing hotel said they were told by their embassy to be ready to leave Tuesday, ending an enforced isolation that Mexico charged was unfairly targeting its citizens.

"We were told to be ready to go. We are just awaiting word," Gustavo Carrillo, a Mexican businessman, told AFP.

Mexican diplomats have complained to China that 70 of their countrymen were placed under seven-day isolation across China despite showing no signs of the (A)H1N1 virus [they have arrived home early Wednesday on a government-chartered jet], which was infected more people in Mexico than anywhere else.

China, meanwhile, sent a chartered plane to Mexico to fetch 200 of its citizens stranded by the flu crisis there [they left Mexico on Chinese government flight on Tuesday] , China Southern Airlines said in a statement, after the two countries agreed to a repatriation deal.

The plane was due back in China on Wednesday, it said.

However, Canada has now asked Beijing to explain the quarantine of 22 Canadian students, Foreign Minister Lawrence Cannon said on Monday. [Apparently, because Canada has the third highest rate of infected]

The group of students was met by provincial health officials when they disembarked from a plane in the northeastern city of Changchun, and their temperatures were taken, according to Canada's public broadcaster.

Even though they showed no symptoms of infection from the virus and had no fever, they were told they would be quarantined for seven days at a local hotel, the CBC said, citing an email from one of the students.

Cannon said he had directed consular officials to check in on the students who travelled to China to learn Mandarin.

"I've asked them to seek clarification from Chinese authorities on the situation," Cannon said.

AFP attempts to reach Mexican and Canadian embassy officials in Beijing were not immediately successful.

Canada has recorded more than 100 cases of swine flu -- the third highest figure after Mexico and the United States.

China on Monday denied discriminating against Mexicans with its strict flu measures.

"The relevant measures are not directed at Mexican citizens and are not discriminatory," foreign ministry spokesman Ma Zhaoxu said in a statement.

The statement asked Mexico to be "objective and calm."

Some of the quarantined Mexicans had travelled to China aboard the same flight that carried an infected Mexican man -- Asia's first confirmed swine flu case -- now in a Hong Kong hospital.

But the Mexican embassy says others arrived on separate flights and were singled out for their nationality.

Quarantined Mexicans also complained to AFP they were not being given enough information from the Chinese side about their fate.

Reuters - China denies flu discrimination against Mexicans

Reporting by Chris Buckley; Editing by Nick Macfie
Mon May 4, 2009 12:54am EDT

Source: http://www.reuters.com/article/topNews/idUSTRE5420U620090504

China denies flu discrimination against Mexicans

BEIJING (Reuters) - China denied discrimination lay behind its confinement of scores of Mexican nationals over fears of H1N1 flu, urging Mexico to respond calmly and cooperate in fighting the virus.

Mexican Foreign Minister Patricia Espinosa accused China at the weekend of discriminating against his country's citizens after Beijing ordered dozens of them into isolation in hotels and other sites across the country, although only one, a man now in Hong Kong, has been found to have the H1N1 flu. [Only on infected could have emerged widespread virus in Chinese region.]

Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Ma Zhaoxu rejected the criticism, saying the isolation was correct procedure, not bigotry.

"The measures concerned are not directed at Mexican citizens and there is no discrimination," Ma said in a statement issued on the ministry website (www.mfa.gov.cn).

"This was purely a medical quarantine issue," Ma said, adding that Mexico should "give full understanding to the measures adopted by China and handle this matter objectively and calmly."

A spokeswoman for the Mexican Embassy in Beijing said neither she nor the ambassador had any immediate comment on the Chinese statement. She said that as of Sunday about 70 Mexican nationals were held in confinement in China.

The row over confinement has strained what has been a warming relationship between the two countries, but with Beijing courting Latin America as a trade and diplomatic partner, the damage appears unlikely to last. [Swine flu is causing distrust over two nations; one is being aware of the epidemic (once the similar situation caused its nation a vast damage), and another, is tempered because of effects from being judged as an epicenter.]

Mexico is China's second biggest trade partner in Latin America -- behind Brazil -- and its biggest export market there, according to Chinese statistics.

In 2008, their bilateral trade reached $17.6 billion in value, a rise of 17.3 percent on 2007, with China having a big surplus based on electronics, textiles and other consumer goods.

Mexico said on Sunday that its swine flu epidemic had passed the worst and experts said the virus might be no more severe than normal flu.

Mexican Ambassador Jorge Guajardo on Sunday visited a hotel in Beijing where more than 10 Mexicans have been held, but was not allowed to see them, an embassy official said that day.

Mexicans were being held in hotels and other sites across several parts of China, including Hong Kong, said the embassy official.

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

The Mexican 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.

My Reaction

.
1. China set the sharpest restriction over swine flu according to fears of virus as it did happen by SARS.

2. Mexican citizens were/are being suspected of the virus carriers by China as well as other citizen in listed of highest confirmed cases.

3. China’s reactions to prevent the spread of flu seem excessive when it bother people of certain countries who have no sign of illness but are the passport holders of particular nations with unjustified investigation.

4. China cancelled all direct flights to Mexico causing Chinese stranded there.

5. Mexico accuses China for unjustified actions to its citizens.

6. Mexican and citizen of other suspects were/are uncomfortable with China’s deeds.

7. China’s restriction brings about distrust between countries.

8. Both countries flew chartered flights to each other’s countries to pick up its citizens.

Conclusion
.

Mexico flew to pick its citizens home from China after being quarantined because of their passports, with no sign of illness, accuses China for being discriminated which leads to shaky relationships between two countries.

Due to the nation had suffered and got huge damages from SARS and bird flu, China has set highest restriction to prevent widespread of virus in its region right when Mexican man became the first confirmed case in China.

The discord emerged from flu crisis will loosen a warming relationship, affects international trading, diplomatic agreement, Mexicans' attitudes toward China and further issues between two countries. Even if it doesn’t seem to be serious for long time but it could

affects in long term relationships.

To remain its diplomatic status, Mexico and China are expected to meet half way and make an entente once again over the crisis.

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2009-04-26T21:52:00.000-07:00

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Name: Patikarn Chuenchomeboon

ID: 4907640777 (74)

Junior Student of BJM, Thammasat University

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Swine Flu: China's responses on swine flu

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