A group of Canadian university students who have been quarantined at a Chinese hotel, say they are being treated well by local officials, though they are looking forward to getting through their week-long isolation period.
The measure is a provincial precaution against the H1N1 flu, which has not yet been seen in China.
When the University of Montreal students landed in the northern city of Changchun on Saturday, they were immediately put into protective quarantine.
Anne Marie Roberge, 21, spoke to CTV's Canada AM from the hotel where the university students are staying.
"We kind of understand that the government does not want an epidemic situation, or something like that," Roberge said Tuesday morning in a phone interview from her hotel. "But it's frustrating because we don't have a lot of information."
On Tuesday, the state-run Xinhua News Agency quoted Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson Ma Zhaoxu as saying the Changchun quarantine was legal and that the Canadians were receiving good care.
Jacob Homel, another student who is currently under quarantine, said things have been going "not too bad at all" at the hotel in Changchun.
"We're doing quite well, everybody is feeling all right," he told CTV's Canada AM, in a separate phone interview on Tuesday morning. "We feel that, essentially, this whole situation has been, kind of, blown out of proportion, but we've been really well treated."
Homel said a Canadian representative made a brief visit to speak with the students about their situation, but local officials allowed him only a few minutes of access.
"He was only able to answer a few questions before being, pretty much pushed out, I would say, by the Chinese delegates that were there," Homel said.
"It was kind of disappointing for us, because we were hoping to have a longer conversation with him, of course."
But Homel said the Canadian representative phoned back to apologize, noting that he had not been permitted to stay longer.
The students have been told they should be able to leave on May 8, provided that nobody falls ill.
"That's kind of an issue," Homel said, referring to possible illness among the students. "Of course, we're all quite tired, we've just travelled all the way here. And some people could fall sick and it probably wouldn't be the swine flu, the H1N1 flu."
But the students are coping.
Roberge said the group members have been asked to take their temperature three times a day and "make sure that everyone's fine."
The students have been provided with three meals a day, a garden to stroll in and a games room to relax in.
Roberge said she used a hotel phone to talk briefly with her family back home, but she has not had much luck using the Internet at her hotel.
"I think we all feel safe here," she said. "No one is sick at all. We don't feel really scared or any panic here. I think we all kind of understand the situation and try to do the best with what we get."
The university students are in China to study Mandarin and are taking part in a language exchange program.
They originally landed in Beijing, before flying to Changchun.
A separate group of Canadian tourists, unrelated to the University of Montreal students, has been quarantined in a hotel in the Wanchia district of Hong Kong.
A Canadian Foreign Affairs spokesperson told The Canadian Press on Monday that one of these guests had tested positive for the H1N1 virus.
"Consular officials have been assured by local authorities that all guests are being well cared for and have access to amenities including food and communications," spokesperson Alain Cacchione said from Ottawa.
"We have no indication at this time that any of them are showing flu-like symptoms."
With a report from CTV's Canada AM and files from The Canadian Press
