China's Health Ministry confirmed on Tuesday a new A/H1N1 influenza case in central China's Hunan Province, bringing the total confirmed cases on the Chinese mainland to 12.

The patient is a 19-year-old male student from Changsha, capital of Hunan.

The provincial health department said he had been studying at an unnamed US university.

The patient boarded Air China flight CA982 from New York at 4 a.m. (Beijing time) Thursday and arrived in Beijing at 6:00 PM (Beijing time).

On Friday, he took a taxi with his mother to the airport. They then boarded Air China flight CA1349 and arrived in Changsha at 1:40 PM.

He developed a sore throat and cough Friday and was put under observation at the Changsha Center for Disease Control and Prevention the following day. On Monday, his cough worsened and he was sent to the Public Health Treatment Center in Changsha, where he remains under quarantine.

Three people who had close contact with him were placed under observation.

The ministry noted that he was on the same plane with a 65-year-old man who had the fourth case of A/H1N1 reported in Beijing.