Beijing: China not the source of swine flu

China rejected foreign media reports pointing to the country as the source of the deadly swine flu outbreak, dismissing them as attempts to tarnish the nation’s image, the South China Morning Post reported. “The reports that are saying that the swine flu epidemic in Mexico originally came from China are groundless,” the Ministry of Agriculture said in a statement, stressing that this particular variation of the swine flu virus had not been detected in China. A number of foreign press reports have said that the swine flu strain that is believed to have killed more than 150 people in Mexico originated in Asia. Some quote the governor of the Mexican state of Veracruz, Fidel Herrera, as saying that the virus originated from China. The Health Ministry said China was ready to work with the international community to help curb the spread of the A/H1N1 swine flu virus. So far China has not reported any human cases of swine flu.