New Zealand Prime Minister John Key says officials did not overreact to a health scare on board an Air New Zealand flight from Japan on Monday.
Passengers aboard the flight from Tokyo that landed in Auckland at 9.20am were not allowed to leave the airport for four hours after 73 Japanese students exhibited flu-like symptoms.
Auckland hospitals were on standby and medical staff were called in to assess the health of the passengers, but the students were found to have common colds.
It is currently flu season in Japan. The predominant flu strain in Japan is covered in New Zealand's seasonal flu vaccine and has been for a number of years.
In 2011, H3N2 flu represented 27 per cent of the "flu" virus strain circulating in New Zealand. (stuff.co.nz)
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