China's Health Ministry reported a suspected A/H1N1 influenza case in Changle City, east China's Fujian Province, Saturday afternoon.
The patient was a two-year-old girl.
On Tuesday morning, the patient and her family took the flight CX841 at New York International Airport and reached Hong Kong at 2 PM on the following day.
Staying for about three hours at Hong Kong airport, they took flight KA662 and arrived at Changle International Airport at 6:30 PM They then took a taxi going home. The taxi driver has been located and contacted.
At around 8 AM Thursday, the baby had acute respiratory infection symptoms, with a body temperature of 39 degrees. She was then sent to the municipal hospital in Changle, where preliminary tests turned positive for possible A/H1N1 influenza disease.
On Saturday afternoon the patient had a body temperature of 37 degrees, with symptoms of cough and phlegm. But she remained in stable condition.
The KA 662 flight had 160 passengers and eight crew members. The provincial health department has found 29 of the 38 close contacts of the patient and put them under quarantine. Seven others had left Fujian while local health authorities are trying to find the rest two in the province.
Eight close contacts of the patient in hospital were also quarantined.
Test samples from the patient were sent to the Chinese Center for Disease Control and Prevention for a final conclusion.
A team of five experts from the Health Ministry arrived in Fujian Saturday evening.
China had seven confirmed A/H1N1 influenza cases on the mainland as of Friday, four in Beijing, one in Sichuan, one in Shandong and one in Guangdong.
(Xinhua News Agency May 24, 2009)
