TFFLU01: H1N1 INFLUENZA OUTBREAK - CHINA SITREP # 9

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 02 BEIJING 001274 HHS FOR OGHA CDC ATLANTA FOR CCID, AND PASS TO FLU COX AND MOUNTS AND COGH BLOUNT AND KELLEY SENSITIVE SIPDIS E.O. 12958: N/A TAGS: KFLU AEMR ASEC CASC KFLO TBIO KSAF KPAO PREL PINR AMGT, MG, EAGR, HHS, TF, CH SUBJECT: TFFLU01: H1N1 INFLUENZA OUTBREAK - CHINA SITREP # 9 REF: A) BEIJING 1264 B) TOKYO 1072 C) BEIJING 1245 D) BEIJING 1224 E) BEIJING 1210 F) HONG KONG 802 ¶1. (SBU) As of COB May 12, China's Ministry of Health (MOH) has reported one confirmed case of H1N1 on Mainland China, in Chengdu (REF A). One confirmed case had previously been reported in Hong Kong on May 1 (REF F). STATUS OF AMCIT QUARANTINE CASES -------------- ¶2. (SBU) As of May 12, 57 American citizens are reported to be in quarantine throughout China - 46 are currently being quarantined in Beijing and eleven are quarantined in five other provinces and municipalities across China. Of these, 51 were passengers on the May 8 NW029 flight from Tokyo to Beijing with China's first confirmed case of H1N1. -- The Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MFA) transmitted to Embassy Beijing on May 12 a list confirming 40 AmCits now quarantined at the Guomen Hotel. All 40 were passengers on flight NW029 into Beijing on May 8. Beijing ACS has been able to directly contact 27 of the AmCits quarantined at the Guomen Hotel. --Beijing Foreign Affairs Office (FAO) notified Beijing ACS that six other AmCits, four of whom were on the NW029 May 8 flight from Tokyo, are in quarantine at the Jin Lin Da Sha Hotel in Beijing. Another couple, who arrived in Beijing on May 11 on flight UA851 from Chicago, was placed into quarantine at the Jin Lin Da Sha Hotel when airport screening showed the husband to have an elevated temperature. Beijing ACS has been in contact with all six AmCits. -- Shaanxi Provincial FAO reported that three AmCits who were on the May 8 NW029 flight have been quarantined at the Xi'an City Number 8 Hospital. --Lanzhou Municipal FAO (in Gansu Province) notified Beijing ACS that one Amcit who was also on the May 8 NW029 flight is currently in home quarantine in Lanzhou. --The four AmCits, who were on board NW025 from Detroit to Tokyo (Narita) on May 8 with the four confirmed H1N1-infected Japanese passengers (who remain in Japan) and then continued onto Shanghai on May 9, are still in quarantine at the Jin Jiang Star Hotel. (Note: There were previously three confirmed H1N1 cases on flight NW025; a fourth passenger was confirmed to have H1N1 on May 11. See REF B) --Two AmCits who traveled to Beijing on the same May 8 NW029 Tokyo to Beijing flight and then flew onward to Guangzhou remain in quarantine in Guangzhou. --In Kunming, one AmCit, who had arrived in Beijing on the NW029 May 8 flight and then traveled on to Yunnan, remains in home quarantine. -- All of the five quarantine cases in Beijing reported in REF C on May 8 have now been released. INFORMING AMERICANS ABROAD OF NEW AIRPORT SCREENING PROCEDURES -------------- -------------- -------------- ¶3. (SBU) A management notice was issued on May 12 informing Embassy staff and families of new airport screening procedures for flights arriving from the U.S. The new process, effective May 11, calls for health officials to board the aircraft to perform temperature readings on each passenger before disembarkation (REF A). GOVERNMENT RESPONSE -------------- BEIJING 00001274 002 OF 002 ¶4. (U) According to local press reports, the Sichuan Health Bureau said that the H1N1 patient was doing well and in good spirits. He is in quarantine with his father, girlfriend, and a local taxi driver who had come into contact with the patient. Vice Premier LI Keqiang visited the Chengdu Infectious Disease Hospital where the H1N1 patient is being treated and telephoned the patient. Li Keqiang said that China must be open and transparent in its H1N1 prevention work. ¶5. (SBU) China CDC's National Influenza Laboratory has received H1N1 rapid diagnostic test kits from U.S. CDC, which likely will shorten the time required for Chinese health officials to confirm any future cases. PICCUTA