Chinese people in close contact with A(H1N1) flu patients will no longer be quarantined in specially reserved places, and patients with mild symptoms may receive treatment at home, the Health Ministry said Wednesday.

Close contacts could observe home quarantine, and the range of close contacts was narrowed down, according to a notice on adjusting A(H1N1) flu prevention and control measures issued by the ministry Wednesday.

"The adjustment does not give up supervising close contacts. It's just a different place for quarantine, and they still will be restricted from going outside and contacting other people," said Liang Wannian, deputy director of the ministry's emergency office.

Close contacts now include people who diagnosed, treated, nursed or visited a patient, people who worked or lived with a patient, and people who contacted the spit or body fluid of a patient. And on aircraft, close contacts include eight passengers surrounding a patient, the notice said.

According to the notice, mild flu cases may be quarantined and treated at home, and health departments at provincial level have a general discretion to decide.

Liang said the adjustment is aimed to ensure timely and effective treatment of severe cases.

The notice also urged all regions to strengthen prevention and control work on special groups including the old, the sick and the pregnant.

China had confirmed 1,151 A(H1N1) flu patients by Tuesday and 870 of them had been discharged from hospital, according to the Ministry of Health. There have been no deaths directly caused by the influenza so far.

(Xinhua News Agency July 9, 2009)