China today denied that it was targeting Mexicans with quarantine measures due to swine flu fears and defended the isolation of 70 Mexico citizens as "not discriminatory".
"The relevant measures are not directed at Mexican citizens and are not discriminatory," foreign ministry spokesman Ma Zhaoxu said in a statement posted on the ministry's website.
The statement came a day after Mexican diplomats complained bitterly to China, saying their countrymen had been placed under quarantine despite showing no signs of swine flu.
A Mexican embassy official told AFP late yesterday there were nearly 70 Mexicans quarantined across China, including in Beijing, Shanghai and the southern city of Guangzhou.
Some of them had travelled to China aboard the same flight that carried an infected Mexican man -- Asia's first confirmed swine flu case.
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Others had arrived in China on planes from the United States and had been quarantined merely for being Mexican, according to the embassy. Mexican Foreign Minister Patricia Espinosa has called the action "unjustified" and warned Mexicans against visiting China.
Both the passengers had stated that they had fever 10 days back, the sources said, adding that they have been taken to the temporary quarantine room at the Kochi airport premises.
Meanwhile, doctors at the Hyderabad International Airport told PTI that no case of suspected Swine Flu was found during the screening of passengers from abroad here last night and early this morning.
Director of National Institute of Communicable Diseases, Shivlal, said in New Delhi that the samples taken from a man from Hyderabad, who came to the south Indian city from Mexico via Los Angeles, has tested negative. All clinical samples tested so far have been negative for Influenza A, he added.
According to Health Ministry officials, screening of passengers from affected countries is continuing in 21 international airports. "A total of 41,012 passengers have been screened so far. 140 doctors and 101 paramedics have been deployed to man 59 counters at the above airports," the officials said yesterday.
Minister of State for Health and Family Affairs Pannabaka Lakshmi had reviewed the situation at a meeting of senior officials in Delhi yesterday. A total of 18 countries around the world have reported cases of human swine flu, with hardest-hit Mexico confirming 22 deaths in all.
The Chinese statement, however, called for Mexico to be "objective and calm" over the situation.