BEIJING - Two foreigners who had come to China to attend a training session for members of disease prevention organisations in southeast Asia fell ill with swine flu, the health ministry said.

The two scholars came to Beijing for training on laboratory technology last week and were quarantined Saturday when a throat swab revealed they had A(H1N1) flu, the health ministry said in an online statement late Sunday night.

Their nationality was not disclosed, but the training session was for members of health organisations from countries belonging to ASEAN, or the Association of Southeast Asian Nations.

The statement did not mention whether they had contracted the illness in China or had brought it in from abroad, but they are the 17th and 18th confirmed cases reported by the city of Beijing.

So far, according to the World Health Organization, 69 countries have officially reported 21,940 cases of A(H1N1) flu infection, including 125 deaths.