China quarantines dozens of US students

BEIJING (AP) — Dozens of American high school students were quarantined in central China after some were diagnosed with swine flu, the government said Wednesday. In New Zealand, the Roman Catholic Church placed restrictions on communion to stop the spread of the virus.

A group of 42 American high school students and teachers was quarantined last Thursday in Yichang city in central Hubei province, China's Foreign Ministry said in a statement. Seven people in the group who tested positive for swine flu were hospitalized in stable condition, said a man who answered the phone at the Yichang command center for swine flu.

The total number of cases on the mainland rose to 237, but no deaths have occurred, the Health Ministry said. The virus continued to spread across the region. In New Zealand, the Roman Catholic Church imposed a ban on priests placing communion wafers on the tongues of worshippers and on the sharing of communion wine. It also asked parishioners to avoid bodily contact at services, including shaking hands. The country reported 28 new cases of swine flu Wednesday, bringing its total to 127.

Hong Kong reported 54 more cases, bringing its total to 172. The new cases included 26 students at the Australian International School, which suspended classes for two weeks Tuesday after two other students were confirmed to have swine flu.

The new cases also included a nurse at United Christian Hospital who worked at an isolation ward used for swine flu patients, the Hospital Authority said.

In Malaysia, the Health Ministry said it has detected the country's first domestic transmission of swine flu in a 17-year-old girl, bringing the total number of cases to 23. She is believed to have caught the virus from another teenager earlier confirmed to have swine flu after returning from Australia.

In the Philippines, Health Secretary Francisco Duque III said the number of swine flu cases has reached 311, but he has no plans to declare a public health emergency because all the cases have been mild and no one has died.

Australia said it would begin using a new, more moderate swine flu response plan starting Wednesday, with health officials saying the virus was not as severe as initially feared, despite its rapid spread through the country.

Health Minister Nicola Roxon said the country's pandemic alert level, currently at "contain," would move to a newly created "protect" level, which focuses less on trying to keep infected people out of Australia and more on identifying and treating those hit hardest by the virus.

Although most of the more than 1,200 cases of the virus in Australia have been mild, three people are currently hospitalized in intensive care, Roxon said.

The World Health Organization has warned countries to prepare for a second wave of infections once their outbreaks have peaked, saying the virus could mutate.

"We are well prepared for the battle against any possible new mutation of the flu virus," Zeng Guang, China's top epidemiologist, was quoted as saying by the official Xinhua News Agency.

Chinese authorities have been enforcing quarantines and temperature checks at airports throughout the country, but Zeng, chief epidemiologist of the Chinese Center for Disease Control and Prevention, told Xinhua that China may change its control and prevention measures to be more scientific, specific and cost effective. He did not give details.

Thailand's Public Health Ministry confirmed 95 new cases of swine flu, bringing the country's total to 405 cases.

Prat Boonyavongvirot of the Public Health Ministry said 34 percent of all cases were in the capital of Bangkok, where 23 schools were temporarily closed for disinfecting.

In Singapore, the Health Ministry said the risk of swine flu spreading in the city-state has increased, as people went shopping or to work after arriving from abroad with the virus. It has reported 49 cases so far.

Copyright 2009 The Associated Press.