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Swine flu boy left behind as China frees his classmates
Anna Davis21 Jul 2009
A London schoolboy today told how he is quarantined in a Chinese hospital while his classmates have been released to get on with their holiday.
Matthew Barnett, 14, is the only pupil from his school still in isolation in Beijing after his friends were given the all-clear. He is passing the time eating McDonald's and watching DVDs provided by hospital staff.
Two of his schoolmates from Central Foundation Boys' School in Islington have been released from hospital, while the rest of the class, in quarantine at a nearby hotel with another group
of children, are free to continue their visit to China.
Matthew must stay in the Ditan Infectious Diseases Hospital in Beijing for further tests and more holidaying British pupils from other schools have also been quarantined.
Speaking from his hospital bed, Matthew said: “I feel fine now. “I am taking antivirals but I didn't really have any flu symptoms, I just had
an upset stomach. It is disappointing being made to stay in hospital as I was looking forward to the trip for so long. But I understand why I am
being kept in. It is a mild illness for me but it could be dangerous for older people or babies.
“The hospital is all right, and the staff are bringing me McDonald's and Domino's pizza. I also have a portable DVD player and a laptop that someone gave me which was nice.”
He added: “The rest of my class are now staying in a five-star hotel. I don't want them to wait for me before continuing with the trip, but I hope they don't see the Great Wall without me.”
Matthew's mother Jackie, 43, from Islington said: “I am less worried now because Matthew is
sounding a lot chirpier. He also had a throat swab which came back negative so hopefully he should be out on Thursday. Then he will have a few days of holiday left before coming home next week.”
Ian Tyrell, teacher at the Central Foundation Boys School, said his students are “overjoyed” to be leaving the hotel.
He said: “My group has now had a certification of good health. “The children are absolutely
overjoyed. We're going to another hotel in Beijing and we're going to continue our visit as planned.
“None of the children are going to fly back home and the two boys who have been released from hospital are going to join us on the rest of the trip.
“We are all extremely sad that Matthew will not be joining us. He needs to have two consecutive
negative tests for swine flu before he can be released.”
The news comes as two more groups of children were taken to the same Yanxiang hotel to be quarantined.
The British schoolchildren were taken to the hotel with suspected swine flu yesterday, taking the total number of pupils in quarantine to more than 100.
Nine British children are now reported to be in hospital with symptoms of the virus, up from
just four on Saturday. They are among a party of
around 600 British students and teachers who had travelled to China to learn about the country's
culture and language.
Nine American teenagers are also being treated in hospital for the disease. None is thought to be seriously ill.
Disease experts have warned the government that British schools must stay shut after the summer
holidays to contain swine flu. But chief medical officer Sir Liam Donaldson said school closures
were unlikely.
Reader views (8)
"Moreover, the "Swine flu" virus is man made and we are being dragged along into serfdom and total control."
This is a truly colossal story that you're sitting on, and it has incalculably far-reaching, indeed global implications.
So why are you posting it in the comments box of a newspaper website instead of presenting all your evidence (I assume there must be loads of it, as you sound so confident) to a major media outlet?
It can't be because they're all in cahoots with the government, since you've picked an Associated Newspapers website to post your findings in the first place. Or maybe you originally posted loads of evidence and the moderators suppressed it in order to make you look like a demented paranoid crank? Who knows?
- Michael, London, 21/07/2009 15:34
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Unlike Britain, China holds 99% of their ethnic population. A concentrated disease would be nothing short of devastating on their people. Maybe that was intended, maybe it was a bit of "white peril", but rest assured they cannot take any risks.
- Jeff, London, 21/07/2009 14:01
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It IS a basic right not to be arrested and imprisoned just for having a high temperature. We are NOT the property of the state security aparatus. Moreover, the "Swine flu" virus is man made and we are being dragged along into serfdom and total control.
- Neil, London, London UK, 21/07/2009 13:54
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To Albert this is in China NOT the UK. And I'm sorry but quarantining people who are infected seems emminently sensible to me. Those carping on about martial law (how ridiculous) would be first to complain if a friend or family in an at risk group died as a result of someone insisting it was their basic human right to spread their germs around.
- Chrissy, Halifax UK, 21/07/2009 13:04
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Neil and Albert are right. This is it folks - you might as well end it all now 
- Charles, London, 21/07/2009 12:56
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...And another thing: face masks make no difference whatsoever to the propagation of viruses. They just make people look silly in their serfdom and their supine obedience to propaganda.
- Neil, London, London UK, 21/07/2009 12:51
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There is nothing more sick-making than being arrested and imprisoned for the "crime" of having flu. Martial Law has arrived - arbitrary arrest and detention for "dissidents" who refuse to believe the lies puked up by the fools who govern the country.
- Neil, London, London UK, 21/07/2009 12:12
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I do not believe a word of the rubbish being spilled out by Burnham and Johnson about Swine Flu. It is propaganda. Having failed to force identity cards on us all by Brown's inept handling of the reasons why, he then came out with the old threat of imminent terrorist attacks. That threat has now been downgraded and no longer is so much of a worry. Now Brown has a new threat with which to frighten us, Swine Flu, so his pocket puppets are now being manipulated to swamp us with the dire consequences of it by draconian ways of avoiding it and supposedly stockpiling millions of doses of vaccine, at what cost, and where is it, to protect us all. NEXT will be the Brown, "saviour of the world remember," telling us not to worry he has everything well in hand and there is no need to panic as "he, alone, SuperBrown" will save us. Move right to the next spin and splutter. The world is going to be destroyed by a comet moving over Pakistan. Come in Lord Sugars of Clapham.
- Albert Hall, hove england, 21/07/2009 11:36
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