China's Health Ministry will begin a daily status report on influenza A/H1N1 starting Sunday, though the mainland has yet to report a case, the ministry said in a circular Saturday.

The ministry will also report the condition of those who were in close contact with influenza A/H1N1 patients, the circular said.

China confirmed its first flu case Friday in the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region (SAR). It involved a 25-year-old Mexican male, who arrived Thursday in the SAR via Shanghai.

The man was among 176 passengers on a Mexico City-Shanghai flight, which also had 13 crew. He then boarded a Shanghai-Hong Kong flight that carried 142 passengers, some of whom had been on the original aircraft.

The ministry asked local health departments to identify anyone who had been in close contact with infected people and put them under observation, the circular said.

All passengers who were on the Mexico-Shanghai flight had been put into seven-day quarantine, it said.

Health departments were asked to carefully trace the journey of these passengers and tighten monitoring.

"Hospitals should be ready to treat patients at any moment," the circular said.

The ministry has included A/H1N1 on the same epidemic list with SARS (Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome), HIV and viral hepatitis.

It raised prevention and control measures to the same level as more serious epidemics such as cholera.

(Xinhua News Agency May 3, 2009)