【纽约时报】Mexico Objects to Quarantines in China

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Mexico Objects to Quarantines in China
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/05/05/world/asia/05china.html?ref=asia

By ANDREW JACOBS
Published: May 4, 2009

BEIJING — The Chinese authorities have confined dozens of Mexicans to hotels and hospitals despite having no signs of human swine virus, Mexican consular officials said Monday, leading the Mexican government to accuse China of unfairly quarantining its nationals and acting without regard to internationally accepted public health practices.

Andy Wong/Associated Press

Hotel workers pushed a cart loaded with food to a sealed-off hotel where Mexican travelers are being held under quarantine in Beijing, China, on Monday.



Further, China suspended all flights from Mexico on Saturday, leaving 120 Chinese tourists without any clear way to return home. Mexico now has plans to fly its nationals home on a chartered flight. Since last Thursday, when an AeroMexico flight from Mexico City arrived in Shanghai with an infected man, Chinese health officials have been rounding up his fellow passengers as well travelers on other flights who showed no signs of illness.

But authorities also isolated a number of Mexican passport holders who had not been home in months, including a consular official in Guangzhou who was placed in quarantine after he returned to China from a trip to Cambodia. The quarantined Mexicans are being held at hotels and hospitals in Beijing, Shanghai, Guangzhou and a number of other cities. So far, none have fallen ill, according to Chinese health officials,

Mexico’s president, Felipe Calderon, lashed out on Sunday at countries that he said were “acting out of ignorance and disinformation” and taking “repressive, discriminatory measures.” He did not identify what countries he was referring to.

But Patricia Espinosa, the Mexican foreign minister, specifically accused China of isolating its citizens in what she described as “unacceptable conditions.”

Such aggressive measures indicate how seriously Chinese officials regard the threat of swine flu, which has spread to 20 countries and infected at least 985 people. Beyond the stricken Mexican traveler, who is currently hospitalized in Hong Kong, there have been no other reported cases in China.

Officials here are still sensitive to their handling of the SARS outbreak of 2003, which began in rural Guangdong Province and later spread across the globe, killing more than 700 people. The government was widely criticized for trying to hide the extent of the epidemic from the W.H.O. and for suppressing domestic media coverage.
Over the weekend, several tourists, including families with small children, were escorted from their hotel rooms in the middle of the night, consular officials said. They were initially told they would be tested for the H1N1 virus and released, but health officials later informed them they would be held for a week. Some have complained of less than hygienic accommodations.

Cristina Garcia Muela, the embassy’s press secretary, said the Mexican government had chartered a flight that would leave Beijing on Tuesday afternoon to take home the 70 quarantined Mexicans and any other citizens who need passage. The plane will pick up passengers in Shanghai, Guangzhou and Hong Kong.

Ma Zhaoxu, a spokesman for China’s foreign ministry, defended the strict quarantine measures, saying they were justified given the fast spread of the new flu strain. “We hope the Mexicans understand the necessary precautions taken by China and that they handle this matter objectively and calmly,” he said in a statement posted on the ministry’s website.

Olivia Lawe Davies, a spokeswoman for the World Health Organization, declined to comment on China’s quarantine measures, although she said that according to WHO guidelines, each country is free to establish its own tactics to combat the virus.

The sole infected passenger is in stable condition at a hospital in Hong Kong, where he traveled after landing in Shanghai. Before being hospitalized, the man briefly stayed at the Metropark Hotel in Hong Kong, where about 300 guests and staff have been forced to remain inside for a week. Hong Kong health officials said that three other people who had close contact with the man are being held in isolation.

Here in Beijing, 10 Mexican citizens have been confined to the Guomen Hotel, which sits directly behind the city’s designated influenza pandemic hospital. Ms. Garcia Muela, the embassy press secretary, said officials have not been allowed to visit those being held there.

On Monday the hotel was cordoned off, its front entrance guarded by two laconic young men in crumpled uniforms. A reporter who called the front desk was told that guests were not allowed to receive calls. Through a rear door, hotel employees could be seen standing idly around, their mouths covered with blue masks. Speaking through a steel gate, one of the workers said the atmosphere inside was fairly relaxed, although not entirely carefree. “The only problem is now that we’re here, we can’t leave,” he said.

Jonathan Ansfield contributed reporting, and Zhang Jing contributed research.

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