A Beijing health official said on Monday the city would step up monitoring of flu cases after the World Health Organization warned the new strain of swine flu has pandemic potential.

The outbreak has killed at least 103 people and cases have been confirmed in many countries, including the United States, Canada and Spain.

Soundbite: Wang Quanyi, Director of the Department of Infectious and Endemic Disease Prevention in the Beijing Center of Disease Control and Prevention & Center for Prevention and Medical Research:

"We carried out specific measures involving flu cases. First, we will strengthen the inspection of flu cases in second-class and higher level hospitals. We have to be conscious of the proportion of flu cases in the patient population. Second, we will carry out etiological inspections in Beijing's nine districts and counties. We will look for flu virus from the samples gathered from flu cases and see if there is a new or varied swine virus."

Doctors must ask those with flu symptoms if they recently traveled to Mexico or the United States or were exposed to pigs, an official said. Chinese officials also told people to report flu-like symptoms at the point of entry when arriving from affected regions.

The capital will also increase stockpiles of medicine and train medical staff to detect and treat human swine flu cases.

People have been urged not to panic as the disease is preventable and controllable. Those with fever and other flu symptoms should see a doctor and wear a mask, medical experts advised.

The Ministry of Health issued a notice Sunday warning the public, and it said there was no vaccine for the illness yet. As of Monday, no cases of the illness had been reported in China.

Experts in the United States said the illness is caused by a virus that contains genetic elements from avian, swine and human flu viruses. It is spread mainly through coughing and sneezing.

(Xinhua News Agency April 30, 2009)