With letters of consolation and health certificates confirming they show no signs of flu, a total of 128 quarantined passengers were released Thursday from hotels where they had been staying for the past week.

One of them, who was quarantined in Yunnan province, showed flu-like symptoms on Wednesday, but the person tested negative for A(H1N1) flu virus and was released.

A total of 166 passengers stayed on the mainland after an AM098 flight took the

m from Mexico City to Shanghai on April 30. A Mexican passenger on that flight was diagnosed with the H1N1 flu later in Hong Kong.

Among the 166 passengers, 38 Mexicans were flown back to Mexico on Monday and the remaining 128 passengers were placed in quarantine in 18 provinces, autonomous regions and municipalities.

The World Health Organization (WHO) confirmed a total of 2,371 human infection cases of the A/H1N1 flu virus from 24 countries as of 18:00 GMT Thursday, including 44 deaths.

Mexican authorities on late Wednesday lowered the alert level on A/H1N1 flu in the capital from orange to yellow, which means that stadiums, bullrings, cinemas and nightclubs will return to normal operations from Wednesday.