China expands flu monitoring network

Video

Play VideoMainland strengthens flu prevention measures Play VideoChina steps up campus flu prevention measures Play VideoHong Kong takes new flu prevention strategy

China's Ministry of Health says it will expand the national influenza monitoring network. Beijing has reported its second confirmed case of A/H1N1 flu, the fifth on the Chinese mainland. All patients are now in stable condition.

In the latest move by the Health Ministry, nearly three hundred laboratories and hospitals across the country will be added to the national influenza monitoring network.

The new monitoring facilities will get staff training, test equipment, and quality standards from the National Center for Disease Control and Prevention.

The decision to widen the monitoring network was made shortly after Beijing reported its second case of the virus. The patient is a 21-year-old Chinese-Canadian student.

The man arrived in Beijing last Saturday, on board an Air Canada flight from Toronto. He developed a fever and cough on Tuesday morning. On Wednesday, he was sent to Beijing's Ditan Hospital where he tested positive for the virus.

He is now in stable condition and two people who had close contact with him have shown no flu symptoms.

Meanwhile, hospital staff say Beijing's first flu patient, an 18-year-old girl, is ready to be discharged over the weekend.

And the quarantine period for Guangzhou's first A/H1N1 patient is also drawing to an end.

Yin Zhibiao, Deputy chief of Guangzhou 8th People's Hospital, said, "The patient has been in hospital for 5 days. He has not had a fever or any other symptoms for 3 days. If two more tests are negative, he can be discharged on Saturday."

The first two flu patients on the mainland were discharged from hospitals in Sichuan and Shandong provinces earlier this week after making a full recovery. The two males are Chinese students who had travelled home from North America.