China lifts quarantine on passengers from flu-infected Mexico flight

Source: Xinhua | 05-07-2009 10:50

BEIJING, May 7 (Xinhua) -- Chinese health authorities on Thursday started lifting a seven-day quarantine on passengers from the Mexico City-Shanghai flight AM098, where a Mexican man was confirmed to be infected with influenza A/H1N1 on May 1.

A car carrying the quarantined passengers from the Mexico  City-Shanghai flight AM098, where a Mexican man was  confirmed to be infected with influenza A/H1N1, runs out  of the gate of the Guomenlu Hotel in Beijing, China, May 7, 2009. The passengers quarantined in the Chinese mainland who took the same flight with the Mexican were out of quarantine on Thursday.(Xinhua/Li Wen)

The Beijing Disease Control Center confirmed that 16 quarantined people will be released on Thursday, of which nine were from the Mexican flight.

One of the passengers, surnamed Wen, told Xinhua over phone Thursday morning that she was on her way home.

"Each of us has been given a notice with the center's seal to verify that we've passed the medical quarantine. My employer sent a car to take me home," she said.

She said the notice is important to prove her health is good so that she would not face prejudice from her colleagues after returning to work.