Four UK students sick with swine flu in China

Four students visiting China from the United Kingdom have been diagnosed with swine flu, and 52 of their classmates and teachers have been quarantined, the British Embassy said on Saturday.

Four students visiting China from the United Kingdom have been diagnosed with swine flu, and 52 of their classmates and teachers have been quarantined, the British Embassy said on Saturday.

HT Image

The sick students have been hospitalized while the others were under quarantine in a hotel, the embassy said in a statement. The group was in China for language and cultural immersion courses, it said.

It did not give any other details on the cases but said it was trying to establish contact with the students' schools.

One student from another group of 362 students and teachers on a similar course organized by the British Council was quarantined for two days this week, the embassy said.

Screening on arrival showed that the student had a raised temperature a key symptom of infection by the H1N1 virus but the student from the second group was released when no illness developed, it said.

Beijing has been accused in the past of not acting quickly enough to combat the spread of diseases, especially the 2003 global outbreak of SARS.

Chastened by that experience and subsequent threats from bird flu, the government this time has acted quickly and decisively to block an outbreak.