Seventeen people, who were on the same Mexico City-Shanghai flight with a Mexican national later diagnosed with influenza A/H1N1, are under quarantine, health authorities in the capital said on Saturday.

Vice President and Spokesman of Beijing Ditan Hospital Cheng Jun speaks at a press conference in Beijing, capital of China, on May 2, 2009. Beijing Health Bureau announced on Saturday that 15 passengers on the same flight with a confirmed case of influenza A/H1N1 infection from Mexico to Hong Kong via Shanghai had been quarantined in Ditan Hospital. Another two passengers on the same flight from Hebei Province and Jiangsu Province also had been isolated separately. All these 17 quarantined passengers haven't shown symptoms of flu by far. [Xinhua]

None of the 17 have displayed any flu symptoms, the Beijing Health Bureau said.

The Mexican, a 25-year-old male, arrived in Shanghai on Thursday aboard flight Aeromexico 098, which carried 176 people and 13 crewmembers.

Of the passengers, 56 disembarked in Shanghai, 41 caught a connecting flight to Guangzhou, 17 transferred to Beijing and the destination of two was unknown.

That accounts for 116 of the passengers, some of whom -- including the Mexican male -- flew on to Hong Kong, taking China Eastern Airlines flight MU505.

Of the 17 who flew to Beijing, two left the city for Hebei and Jiangsu provinces and were put into quarantine by local disease control and prevention centers.

The 15 whose final destination was Beijing were admitted by Beijing Ditan Hospital, Cheng Jun, deputy head of the hospital, told reporters onSaturday.

The entire crew remained in Shanghai and were put into quarantine.

The Mexican male became Hong Kong's first confirmed case of influenza A/H1N1 infection Friday, prompting authorities to immediately raise the flu alert level from serious to the highest level of emergency.

The patient checked into the Metropark Hotel in Wanchai, Hong Kong, on Thursday afternoon and developed flu symptoms such as lethargy, cough and a sore throat in the evening. The diagnosis was confirmed at a hospital, and the patient was put into quarantine, where he remained in stable condition on Saturday.

(Xinhua News Agency May 2, 2009)