AFP/File – British Airways aircraft at London's Heathrow airport in 2007. Airlines stepped up restrictions Sunday … LONDON (AFP) – Airlines stepped up restrictions Sunday on travellers to and from Britain as a report said four more British students quarantined in China had been confirmed as having swine flu.
Britain is Europe's worst-hit territory, with estimates of 55,000 new cases last week, and both British Airways and Virgin Atlantic said they have put in place measures to turn back passengers showing symptoms.
"If we have concerns about a customer or the customer is concerned, then we have a 24-hour medical service we can call to give advice to staff," said a British Airways spokeswoman.
"There have been a number of cases where we have advised customers not to fly on the basis of their diagnosis or symptoms of H1N1."
Britain's health authorities are advising people with symptoms to delay journeys if they are experiencing illness.
"If there are signs of something being wrong, be it excessive sneezing or coughing, not looking well, high temperature, then the airport staff can call in a medical team for extra advice," added Virgin Atlantic spokesman Paul Charles.
"If the medical team believe there are reasons not to fly, the passenger will be asked to produce a fit to fly certificate from their doctor or a hospital, and they will be put at our cost on to the next available flight."
The news of more stringent checks came with a group of 52 students and teachers in quarantine after the British Council said four students tested positive for the A(H1N1) virus upon their arrival in Beijing for a study tour.
Later Sunday, the BBC said on its website that another four British school pupils from the same group had been confirmed as having swine flu following tests.
"It was a bit of surprise to be detained at the airport. We have been in a state of shock," Ian Tyrrell, one of the teachers leading the tour, told AFP by telephone from the hotel where the group was quarantined.
Tyrrell said there were some Americans and other nationalities under quarantine at the hotel, some of them students, but he could not provide a specific number.
"They are still excited to be in China," Tyrrell said.
He added that two of the children who tested positive for swine flu had since rejoined their groups in quarantine, while two others were "doing well" in a Beijing hospital.
China has launched aggressive measures to try and detect swine flu, including temperature checks on foreign flights into the country, and has quarantined dozens of foreign nationals since the virus first emerged in May.
There have been around 1,500 positive cases of the virus in China, the health ministry said on its website, but no deaths have been reported.
The World Health Organisation said Friday it would stop giving figures on the numbers infected with A(H1N1) to allow countries to channel resources into close monitoring of the spread of the disease.
But European Union Health Commissioner Androulla Vassiliou predicted Saturday that 60 million people across the 27-nation bloc would need priority vaccination against swine flu.
Northern France, next to the channel crossings into England, has seen an upsurge in new cases over the past week.
And Italy has warned that the start of the next school year could be put back there to try to reduce the spread of the disease.
The spread of swine flu into relatively untouched territories shows no sign of abating, with new cases confirmed Sunday by Moroccan health authorities.
In the last table released by the WHO on July 6, the UN agency had recorded 94,512 laboratory-confirmed cases in 136 countries and territories since April, including 429 deaths
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