Fifth Flu case reported in mainland

The capital's municipal health bureau said Wednesday that another person has tested positive for the A/H1N1 influenza in Beijing, marking the second confirmed case in the capital and the fifth on the Chinese mainland.

According to a health official, the patient is a 21-year-old Chinese-Canadian student from Toronto. The official refused to disclose the patient's name, saying he was no longer a Chinese national.

The man arrived in Beijing on the afternoon of May 16 aboard a direct Air Canada flight from Toronto.

China has previously reported four cases on the mainland -- in Sichuan, Shandong, Beijing and Guangdong, with the first two patients now having been discharged.

This week health officials from around the world are attending the World Health Organization’s annual meeting in Geneva to discuss the flu outbreak.

Director-General Margaret Chan and UN Chief, Ban Ki-moon, appealed for help in a meeting with drug companies and vaccine makers Tuesday.

Since specimens of the virus are not growing as quickly as hoped in laboratories, drug manufacturers will not be able to start manufacturing a vaccine until mid-July at the earliest.