On February 5, 2012, the official number of people infected with H3N2v, in Japan, hit 2.1 million!  That’s more than the 2009 H1N1 outbreak.  Now Australian media reporting that New Zealand health officials are getting a little worried.

On February 13, airline passengers, on a plane arriving from Japan, were met by New Zealand health officials who made them undergo health screenings.  Some paramedics were actually dressed in full hazmat gear: “It was like we were radioactive or something. I think it freaked some people out.”-David Turner, passenger

Eventually all passengers were cleared, but the passengers and the crew of the flight say health officials gave them little info about what was going on.  The New Zealand Ministry of Health, and Auckland Regional Public Health Service are refusing to comment.  They’re also refusing to release the results of the health screenings.

Apparently some teenage Japanese passengers, on the Air New Zealand flight, had symptoms like sniffles, and a couple of them threw up.  New Zealand’s hospitals have also been put on high alert.