UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 02 BEIJING 001352

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 # 14

REF: A) BEIJING 1335 B) BEIJING 1317 C) BEIJING 1298 D) BEIJING
1283 E) BEIJING 1274 F) BEIJING 1264

FOURTH CASE CONFIRMED ON MAINLAND CHINA, FIFTH SUSPECTED
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1. (U) As of May 19, there are four confirmed cases of influenza A
(H1N1) on Mainland China. China's Ministry of Health (MOH) announced
that the suspected case in Guangzhou reported on May 18 has been
confirmed as influenza A (H1N1) positive by China CDC (REF A). There
are three other confirmed H1N1 cases on Mainland China (REF A, D and
F). Hong Kong also has three confirmed cases of influenza A (H1N1).


2. (SBU) On May 19, MOH informed Embassy Beijing of a suspected H1N1
case in the Tibetan Autonomous Region (TAR). The Italian female flew
from Italy to Nepal on May 12 and developed flu-like symptoms on May

15. She exhibited a high fever when she arrived at Zhangmu port in
the TAR on May 16, and then was transferred to the port hospital.
On May 18, Tibet CDC test results showed positive for influenza
A/H1N1 nucleic acid. A sample from the case has been sent to China
CDC for final confirmation. All of the 23 travelers with the
suspected case, including six AmCits (REF A), have been quarantined
in a local hotel in Zhangmu.


STATUS OF AMCIT QUARANTINE CASES
-------------- --------------


3. (SBU) As of May 19, 11 American citizens are reported to be in
quarantine throughout China. Four AmCits are currently quarantined
in Beijing, one is quarantined in Shanghai and another six are

quarantined in the TAR.

-- Four AmCits are quarantined in Beijing at Ditan Hospital.

--One AmCit male is quarantined in Shanghai. He arrived in Shanghai
via flight AA289 on May 18 and had no fever or contact with
symptomatic cases, but was quarantined because he transited Mexico
within the last 7 days. He should be released from quarantine on
May 21.

--Six American citizens are being quarantined in a hotel in Zhangmu,
a town close to the Nepal border in the TAR. ConGen Chengdu has been
in contact with the AmCits and is working to get information about
their medical test results from the TAR FAO. If their test results
come back negative for H1N1, the Amcits could be released by May 22.
(Note: This is a correction from REF A about the same group which we
believed to be five in number and quarantined in Lhasa. End note.)


EMBASSY BEIJING POSTS RESPONSE TO CHINESE PRESS ACCUSATIONS
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4. (SBU) To address criticism in the Chinese media about poor U.S.
government and media response to the H1N1 virus, Embassy Beijing PAS
has posted on the Embassy website a statement in both Chinese and
English describing U.S. efforts to prevent the spread of H1N1.


CHINA'S NET USERS ANGRY AT AND FEARFUL OF OVERSEAS STUDENTS
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5. (U) According to press reports, Chinese Net users are venting
their anger at the three overseas Chinese students who returned from
overseas (two from the United States and one from Canada) and were
later confirmed to be infected with influenza A (H1N1). All three
were harshly criticized for traveling and spending time in public
after they already had symptoms. Some netizens suggested the
government ban all overseas Chinese from returning. More than
two-thirds of the 15,000 polled on sina.net said overseas students
should stay away as long as the virus is still a problem.


BEIJING 00001352 002 OF 002



CHINA ISSUES NEW HEALTH DECLARATION FORM
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6. (U) Effective May 18, China's General Administration of Quality
Supervision, Inspection and Quarantine (AQSIQ) has issued a new
health declaration form. The new form, which must be filled out upon
arrival, requires passengers to declare any travel plans for the
seven days after landing, including details such as contact
addresses and numbers, and carrier numbers for flights. The number
of symptoms asked about on the form has also increased from eight to

11.

DELEGATION TO THE U.S. QUARANTINED UPON RETURN
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7. (U) According to press reports, a group of 24 officials who were
sent to the U.S. for a study tour were quarantined upon their return
to Hainan. No one in the group had unusual symptoms, but the
province reportedly put the group in seven days of home quarantine,
due to the "rapidly increasing trend of H1N1 in the United States"
and the need "to avoid the risk of importing cases."


CHINA ISOLATES ITS FIRST H1N1 VIRUS STRAIN
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8. (U) China CDC's National Influenza Laboratory has successfully
isolated the nation's first outbreak associated H1N1 virus strain
from a clinical sample from the first case in China (REF F) and
named it as A/Sichuan/1/2009(H1N1). The virus isolated in China and
the virus isolated from the U.S and Mexico are homologous. China CDC
has submitted the sequence to the Genbank Sequence Database (under
the National Institutes of Health - NIH) and the Global Initiative
on Sharing Avian Influenza Data (GISAID), both sources for
international collaboration and information sharing.


WEINSTEIN