China quarantines more than 70 Mexican travelers

BEIJING -- More than 70 Mexican travelers have been quarantined in hospitals and hotels in China as part of sweeping anti-swine flu measures, the country's ambassador to Beijing said Sunday.

Mexicans were being asked to identify themselves on arriving flights and isolated from other travelers after landing, Mexican ambassador Jorge Guajardo said in an interview.

"In many cases we have gotten reports that they were being quarantined for the sole fact that they had a Mexican passport, whether or not they came from Mexico, whether or not they had been in Mexico, whether or not they had been in contact with someone else from Mexico," Guajardo said.

None of those in isolation has presented symptoms and most had no contact with infected persons or places, he said.

Not even the country's diplomats have been immune. The Mexican consul general in the southern city of Guangzhou was briefly held for checks after returning from a Cambodian vacation last week, Guajardo said.

-- AP