The Foreign Ministry on Tuesday again reminded Chinese citizens who travel to swine flu-hit countries to strengthen prevention measures.

"The government attaches great importance to the swine flu outbreaks in other countries, and has taken emergency measures to strengthen monitoring and prevention," Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Jiang Yu told a regular press conference.

"We have increased port inspection," she said, noting that the country also kept coordination with the World Health Organization (WHO) and flu-hit nations to closely follow the epidemic situation.

"Up to now, no cases of the illness had been reported in China, but the epidemic could spread to China," Jiang said.

The Foreign Ministry had issued notice twice to warn those who travel abroad to be alert about the epidemic situation.

"We will closely follow the situation and release updated epidemic information," Jiang noted.

The swine flu crisis is getting worse as the WHO said on Monday that 73 cases of swine flu have been confirmed worldwide, 40 of which are in the United States, and 26 in its neighbor Mexico, where as many as 149 deaths are thought to have been caused by the virus. Several other countries have reported cases or suspected cases.

(Xinhua News Agency April 28, 2009)