U.S. warns on China swine flu quarantines

WASHINGTON, June 20 (UPI) -- The random nature of U.S. travelers to China being placed into seven-day flu quarantines is making travel to the country unpredictable, U.S. officials say.

The U.S. State Department issued a travel alert Friday warning that Chinese officials reacting to the swine flu outbreak are randomly enforcing rules wherein travelers are being placed into long quarantines to guard against the spread of the H1N1 virus.

"Although the proportion of arriving Americans being quarantined remains low, the random nature of the selection process increases the uncertainty surrounding travel to China," the State Department said. "The selection process focuses on those sitting in close proximity to another traveler exhibiting fever or flu-like symptoms or on those displaying an elevated temperature if arriving from an area where outbreaks of 2009 H1N1 have occurred."

The statement said U.S. officials have received reports of passengers arriving from areas where outbreaks have occurred, such as the United States and Mexico, being placed in precautionary quarantine simply because they registered slightly elevated temperatures.

About 48,000 cases of swine fly have been found worldwide, including 519 in China, the World Health Organization says.