Travelers returning home to Zhejiang to be checked daily

• Source: The Global Times
• [23:47 May 30 2009]
• Comments

By Ji Beibei

A health worker performs a flu check on a passenger arriving in Shanghai Wednesday on a flight from Germany. Photo: AFP

Anyone returning to Zhejiang from overseas will have to undergo a week of health checks, the provincial health bureau has announced.

People will be asked to take their own temperatures on a daily basis and report it to their local health officials, who will call or visit each person’s home, the Xinhua News Agency reported yesterday.

The tighter controls were ordered after the first local transmission of the H1N1 virus on the mainland was detected Friday.

Yesterday, the Beijing Municipal Health Bureau reported two new confirmed cases, the 6th and 7th in the city. The two patients, one surnamed Bao and the other surnamed Li, remained under quarantine at Beijing Ditan Hospital, where they reportedly had normal temperatures and were in stable condition.

In Guangdong, a woman surnamed Dai was infected with the virus last week after coming in contact with a different man named Li – a Chinese-American who had been to New York, the Yangcheng Evening News reported Friday.

Some Internet users dubbed the man Li Ranran (literally, Infectious Li) and accused him of lacking social responsibility, it said.

Li had not taken any preventative measures and did not report to hospital after returning to Guangzhou a week ago, despite experiencing a sore throat Sunday evening, a light fever Monday afternoon and coughing Tuesday, the report said.

Over the following four days, Li went to many public places, and used taxis and buses but never wore a face mask, it said.

“The flu may not be a big deal in other countries, but in China with such a population and high density, it would be a disaster if the flu began spreading,” a Web user from Beijing said on News.qq.com.

“I strongly suggest people like Li quarantine themselves in the first several days after returning to China.”

A worker at the Guangzhou Disease Prevention and Control Center told the Global Times yesterday, “We have passed out brochures suggesting that people returning from overseas quarantine themselves during their first week back. But it’s up to the individual to comply.”

As of Saturday, 21 confirmed cases and one suspected case had been reported on the mainland, in eight provinces and municipalities.

Eight of the confirmed have recovered and been discharged from hospital, the Ministry of Health said.