Health authorities said Tuesday they toughened quarantine inspections of passengers from Beijing and Henan province, as China confirmed that the new strain of bird flu, H7N9, had spread to its capital.

Quarantine officials had been placing thermal image cameras only at arrival gates of flights and ferries coming from Shanghai and other eastern areas of China that previously had reports of human infection of the potentially fatal bird flu virus.

The Ministry of Health and Welfare has also assigned more than 30 regional medical institutes to run diagnostic tests for sick travelers suspected of having the virus. Centers will also protect and isolate patients until they confirm the human infection of the virus, officials added.

The state-run Korea Centers for Disease Control under the health ministry said it had also requested hospitals across the country to report cases of patients who suffered from fever and respiratory illnesses and recently visited China.

By Cho Chung-un (christory@heraldcorp.com)