A fifth UK school pupil has been taken to hospital in Beijing with suspected swine flu.

About 40 of the 15-year-old London boy’s classmates were under observation at a university campus in the city.

Already four British and four US pupils from the same trip have been diagnosed, and more than 100 of their classmates and teachers quarantined in a hotel.

China has this year quarantined hundreds of foreign visitors who have shown symptoms of the H1N1 virus.

The 15-year-old boy was taken to hospital late on Saturday night after suffering a nose bleed at a welcome event. It will be 24 hours before tests confirm whether he has the virus or not.

It was not yet known which London school he attends. The other four children being treated are year nine students, aged 13 to 14; three from the Central Foundation Boys School, Clerkenwell, and one from Parliament Hill School, Camden.

China’s Health Ministry said on Friday that 1,537 cases of swine flu had been reported in the country of 1.34 billion. None have been fatal.

High temperatures

Meanwhile, four of the British pupils under quarantine have told the BBC from their hotel room they are being well looked after.

The four, who attend Clevedon School in north Somerset, are all in their late teens and are part of a group of 12 from that school, plus two teachers.

"We are quarantined in the hotel and are all currently well as we have daily temperature checks which are all good," they said in an e-mail sent from their hotel room.

"The hotel is really nice and we have proper toilets. We hope we experience more of China as we should be out within four days."

One of the boys, Christopher Hicks, said they had been visiting the Great Wall of China when they were called back, because they had previously shared a bus with a pupil from another school who had tested positive for the virus.

Another pupil, Joe Robinson, said: "We’re being treated very, very well. The food’s great. We’ve got our own individual tellies."

They also had individual rooms, he said, although they had to wear protective face masks.

More than 600 Britons are on the trip, organised by the Specialist Schools and Academies Trust (SSAT), the Department for Children, Schools and Families, the British Council and Chinese organisation Hanban.

Speaking about the pupils in hospital, the SSAT’s Katharine Carruthers said: "They are being extremely well looked after and cared for, to the extent where they’re getting pizza delivered to where they are. They are all happy and getting better."

The majority of the students are continuing their trip as normal, and the 52 British pupils and teachers under quarantine were staying "in very comfortable conditions" in a four-star hotel, she said.

"Everyone is in good spirits, getting involved in activities and carrying on their Chinese learning."

The BBC’s Quentin Sommerville, in Beijing, said three of the four UK children were found to have high temperatures when they arrived in Beijing earlier in the week.

They were taken straight to a hospital where it was confirmed they had the virus. A fourth classmate fell ill later.

The American children had been in contact with the UK group and four were also diagnosed as having the virus.

Simon Calder, travel editor for the UK’s Independent newspaper, said many countries were using "thermal imaging" at airports to test travellers, and the UK was viewed as a high-risk area.

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