China isolating Westerners over flu scare

BEIJING | China’s quarantine of Mexicans and Canadians with no symptoms of swine flu - plus a decision Tuesday to suspend quick visas for Americans - have created plenty of concern overseas.

But steps to keep China virus free have proved popular at home, where people felt burned by Chinese authorities during the deadly SARS epidemic six years ago.

“I remember during SARS, I was still in middle school, and the situation was much more nervous,” said Zhang Ziqiong, a 20-year-old student at the National Academy of Chinese Theater Arts in Beijing.

“Teachers took our temperatures and had to report the situation every day. I was really frightened at the time. But this time it seems quite calm. There are still many people out in public, and not many are wearing masks,” Ms. Zhang said.

Initial reports of 150 dead victims of swine flu in Mexico, later proved vastly exaggerated, made the outbreak look a lot like a SARS sequel.

SARS, or severe acute respiratory syndrome, originated in southern China, and Chinese authorities kept the outbreak secret from the world until it was too late. About 700 people died, including about 300 in China, where mass panic took hold once the cover-up was revealed.

Zhong Nanshan, a leading respiratory expert and the first to identify the SARS outbreak in China, told Beijing TV that the faster the reaction, the better China will be at halting the disease.

“Last time we were too passive,” Dr. Zhong said. “This time we have taken the initiative from the very beginning. I think it’s a very different situation.”

Since Thursday, China has placed more than 70 Mexican citizens under quarantine, even though almost none have displayed symptoms of the flu virus.

A group of 22 Canadian students with no reported symptoms was also being held as of Tuesday at a dormitory in the city of Changchun, northeast of Beijing.

Two Americans were in isolation, while another two who were in quarantine have been released, the Associated Press reported.

China also tightened visa rules for citizens from the United States, which has reported the second-highest number of swine flu cases in the world, according to the AP.

Previously, U.S. nationals other than journalists could obtain visas in as little as one day.

Foreign Ministry spokesman Ma Zhaoxu called the visa changes nondiscriminatory. “The adjustment of visa policy will not affect the normal entry of foreigners and exchanges of people.”

The State Department in Washington declined immediate comment, saying it was looking into the matter.

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