【华尔街日报】Canada Seeks Explanation For China's Quarantining Of Students

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Canada Seeks Explanation For China's Quarantining Of Students

By SHAI OSTER and PATRICIA JIAYI HO
MAY 6, 2009

【链接】 http://online.wsj.com/article/SB124150246744286579.html


BEIJING – Canadian officials are trying to find out why 22 university students with no apparent flu symptoms have been held in quarantine in a northeastern Chinese city since arriving there over the weekend, a spokeswoman for the Canadian embassy in Beijing said Tuesday.

The 22 Canadians, part of a larger group of nearly 30 language students traveling on a program from the University of Montreal, were put into quarantine shortly after getting off a plane in Changchun, in the northern Chinese province of Jilin Saturday.

Officials at the Canadian embassy in Beijing have been in touch with the students and Chinese authorities, but there is no indication yet why only the Canadian students were singled out from the passengers on the flight if there were no symptoms present.

"Clarifications have been requested in connection with this quarantine, the purpose and nature. Why were the students placed in quarantine when there are no symptoms?" said Patrice Cousineau, head of public affairs for the Canadian embassy in Beijing.

As of Monday, Canada had 140 cases of the A/H1N1 flu that appeared to start in Mexico, but no deaths. In Mexico, the epicenter of the epidemic, authorities were easing restrictions as the infection rate appeared to slow down. The World Health Organization said Mexico had 590 confirmed cases including 25 deaths.

Meanwhile, a diplomatic scuffle was easing as a group of Mexican citizens held in quarantine across China prepared to go home Tuesday aboard a specially chartered plane. China and Mexico reached an agreement on repatriating citizens stranded by the A/H1N1 virus that has hit Mexico hardest but spread worldwide.
Some 200 Chinese citizens were also to leave Mexico on a special flight to return home.

The arrangement was reached after Mexico sharply criticized Chinese authorities for quarantining Mexican nationals, most without symptoms and some not even on flights flight from infected areas.

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