by Tuqi
Hong Kong, May 11 (Xinhua) -- The A/H1N1 flu continues to make inroads into the Asia-Pacific region as China, the most populous country in the region, confirmed its first new flu case on the mainland Monday morning.
The case, in which a Chinese mainland male surnamed Bao who recently returned from the United States tested positive for the A/H1N1 influenza, was the second confirmed case in the whole country after Hong Kong SAR earlier reported a case of new flu diagnosed in a 25-year-old Mexican.
The 30-year-old patient was now at the Chengdu Infectious Disease Hospital in Sichuan's provincial capital and those who had close contact with him were isolated for observation.
The patient is currently in a stable condition with a normal body temperature, and is "recovering", the Ministry of Health (MOH) said on its website.
Bao arrived in Beijing on board the Northwest Airlines flight NW029 on May 9, after making a transfer in Tokyo from St. Louis, in the United States. His body temperature was normal when entering China. He then flew from Beijing to Chengdu on Sichuan Airlines flight 3U8882 the same day.
Bao was found to have a fever on the flight from Beijing to Chengdu accompanied by sore throats, coughing, a stuffy nose and sneezing.
He went to the Sichuan People's Hospital after getting off the plane, and was tested "weakly positive" to A/H1N1 virus twice by the Sichuan Center for Disease Control and Prevention. He was then transferred to the Chengdu Infectious Disease Hospital.
The health ministry said most of the passengers on board the same flight from Beijing to Chengdu with Bao had already been tracked down and isolated at local health institutions in 21 provinces, municipalities and autonomous regions.
The Sichuan health department also said Monday morning that more than 130 of the 150 passengers from the flight were in quarantine.
In Hong Kong SAR, ten passengers on board the same flight which4 Japanese passengers were confirmed with A/H1N1 influenza have been under quarantine in Hong Kong, a Hong Kong health official confirmed on Monday.
Nine of them have so far tested negative for A/H1N1 influenza and result of laboratory analysis of the remaining one is pending, according to a spokesman for the Department of Health of Hong Kong government.
He said the 19 passengers on board the Northwest Airlines plane(flight no. NW025) who had indicated that they would come to Hong Kong had been traced. Four of them sat at a different cabin of the flight concerned and did not share common facilities with the four Japanese passengers who were confirmed to have been infected with A/H1N1 influenza. Seven were currently not in Hong Kong and the eight who arrived in Hong Kong had been located.
The eight found in Hong Kong together with the two passengers identified on May 9 at the Airport and in a Tsim Sha Tsui hotel are being quarantined.
In India, the country remained free from A/H1N1 flu virus Monday after 38 people have tested negative for the disease, said the Indian Ministry of Health.
Meanwhile, two suspected cases of the disease are still under test, said the ministry.
One of the suspected passengers under test arrived in New Delhion Monday and was referred to health facilities.
About 380,000 passengers have been screened by Indian authorities since last month.
Thailand's Public Health Ministry updated Monday that for a period of April 27-May 11 the country had some nine A/H1N1 flu suspected patients.
The Thai Public Health Ministry was investigating the suspected patients and examining them through laboratory tests, said the ministry.
Thailand's Health Ministry also said it will propose to the weekly cabinet meeting on Tuesday a plan to purchase materials to additionally produce 2 million pills of the antiviral Oseltamivir, amid the rising A/H1N1 flu outbreak outside the country.
In what may be a good sign, the Singaporean health authorities on Monday lowered its alert level for influenza A/H1N1 from "orange," next to the highest "red," to "yellow."
According to local radio 938live, the country's Health Ministry urged Singaporeans to maintain alertness and vigilance, adding that stringent border controls will still be maintained with temperature screening at air, land and sea checkpoints.
Singapore has investigated 33 flu cases so far. All the cases have tested negative for the flu A/ H1N1 virus except for one pending laboratory confirmation.
The WHO's pandemic alert level remains at phase 5, which means a flu pandemic is imminent.
The agency has said that it still has no plan to raise the alert level to phase 6, the highest level which means a global pandemic is underway, as there is still no strong evidence showing community-level human-to-human transmission of the new virus has occurred in regions outside North America.
The WHO said, however, that it was closely monitoring the situation in European countries such as Spain and Britain, which have reported the largest numbers of cases outside North America.
