Chinese capital confirms first H1N1 flu case

A staff member guards outside the inpatient department at Beijing Ditan Hospital, Beijing, China, May 17, 2009. One confirmed case of A (H1N1) flu was reported in Beijing, China's Ministry of Health said on Saturday evening. [Xinhua]

Passengers wearing masks wait for their luggage at the Beijing International airport in Beijing, May 16, 2009. [Xinhua]

Fang Laiying (C), director of Beijing Municipal Health Bureau, Deng Ying (R), director of Beijing Municipal Center for Disease Control and Prevention, and Mao Yu (L), president of Beijing Ditan Hospital, hold a press conference in Beijing, May 16, 2009. [Xinhua]

BEIJING - Chinese mainland has confirmed Saturday its third case of H1NI flu and its first in the capital, Beijing.

The Beijing case is an 18-year-old woman who has been studying in New York state, the Health Ministry said. She was in a stable condition with normal temperature.

She arrived in Beijing on May 11 on board a US flight, and was transferred to the Beijing Ditan Hospital early in the morning on May 15.

According to Beijing Municipal Health Bureau, Liu had only contacted two people, her mother and a taxi driver. Neither had shown flu symptoms.

Turkey and India confirmed their first cases of H1N1 flu on Saturday, all involving airline passengers arriving from the United States.

More than 30 countries have now confirmed cases of the flu strain, a mix of swine, human and avian viruses, which last month prompted the World Heath Organization to raise its global pandemic alert level to 5 on a 6-point scale.

The first two cases in the Chinese mainland are Chinese nationals who had been studying in the United States and Canada. Hong Kong Special Administrative Region has confirmed two cases.