Hundreds isolated in Hong Kong hotel

HONG KONG, China (CNN) — Hundreds of guests and staff were under quarantine at a hotel in China on Saturday after health officials determined that a guest there had contracted the H1N1 virus.

About 200 hotel guests and 100 staff members were ordered to stay in Metropark Hotel in Hong Kong for seven days to stop the spread of the virus commonly known as swine flu, a government spokesman said.

The quarantine was ordered after a 25 -year-old Mexican man stayed in the hotel and became sick. The man flew from Mexico to Shanghai on April 30 and then went to Hong Kong. He was taken to a hospital and tests confirmed that he had the virus, said York Chow, the secretary for food and health.

Those in the hotel will be taken to another quarantined area, health officials said.

This was the first confirmed case of the virus in Hong Kong, local medical officials said.

The World Health Organization has also confirmed the case in Hong Kong. It is among the agency’s more than 367 confirmed cases worldwide, though no cases have been confirmed in mainland China.