Kiwis quarantined in China flu scare

New Zealand's official swine flu tally jumped by a third yesterday to 216. Photo / Greg Bowker

At least two New Zealanders are being held under quarantine in China after swine flu scares.

One is among 39 Qantas passengers being held after a passenger on their Sydney-to-Shanghai flight tested positive for the H1N1 influenza virus on Wednesday. Details of the other one were not known late last night.

The NZ consul-general in Shanghai, Michael Swain, said the consulate knew of two Kiwis in quarantine, and another had been isolated previously.

The Qantas passenger is Adair Marshall, who works at The Warehouse head office in Auckland.

She was put into isolation because she was seated near one of four people on flight QF129 whose temperatures were found to be higher than normal.

Mrs Marshall, 51, took two weeks' leave to visit a friend in Shanghai, but now must spend seven days quarantined in a remote motel, despite displaying no flu symptoms.

Speaking to the Weekend Herald from her motel room last night, Mrs Marshall said she and the others being quarantined were put on a bus and driven 90 minutes from the city.

She cannot leave her room, and has her temperature taken twice daily by staff wearing gowns and masks.

Workers leave what Mrs Marshall describes as "prison food" at the door at meal times - she hears a knock on the door, and opens it to find a little plastic-wrapped package.

The motel was comfortable and clean, but it was "like being in prison".

New Zealand's official swine flu tally jumped by a third yesterday to 216, including a woman described as morbidly obese and having respiratory problems, who was fighting for her life in Wellington Hospital late last night after becoming the first person admitted to intensive care with swine flu.