Flu-hit Mexico waits to reopen after shutdown

Hurriyet Daily News with wires

refid:11585136 ilişkili resim dosyası

Traffic was slowly picking up again, some cafes were reopening and cleanup crews were getting universities ready to resume classes. Mexico City has some of its customary bustle back, and the president promises life is returning to normal after a five-day shutdown to contain the spread of swine flu.

President Felipe Calderon said Mexico's response to the epidemic had saved "thousands of lives," but health experts warned that the epicenter of the deadly H1N1 virus and the rest of the world needed to remain on guard against the virus.

Mexico has been eerily quiet since Friday after Calderon urged everyone to stay at home over a five-day holiday weekend. However the president, in a televised address on Monday night, said it was coming to the point where the country could start returning to normal. "Mexico has taken the lead in the global battles against the virus ... thousands of lives have been saved not only in Mexico but in the world as a result of his government's containment measures," Agence France-Presse quoted him as saying.

Returning to normalcy
Starting today, Mexico would progressively return to normal activities by reopening its businesses, schools, museums and other venues closed for a week or more in its clampdown on the H1N1 outbreak, Calderon explained. But, Latin American country called off Cinco de Mayo celebrations yesterday, including the biggest one of all - a re-enactment of the May 5, 1862, victory over French troops in Puebla state.

Already more vehicles prowled the streets of the capital Monday than over the weekend, and fewer people wore surgical masks. Some cafes even reopened ahead of time, reported The Associated Press. "At last," said Ana Maria Rodriguez, a teacher from Mexico City. "We live in the capital, we're not used to being cooped up at home."

Still, Calderon warned against complacency as "this virus is still circulating", and urged people to take precautions such as regular hand-washing. World health officials stressed that the global spread of swine flu was still in its early stages and a pandemic could be declared in the days to come. Experts inside Mexico's swine flu crisis center warned that the virus remained active throughout Mexico and could bounce back once millions return to work and school. "It's clear that it's just about everywhere in Mexico," Marc-Alain Widdowson, a medical epidemiologist from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, told The Associated Press.

Scientists said the virus is spreading in the U.S. and that chances of severe cases could rise there as well, even as a New York City school reopened after the swine flu hit following a spring break trip by some students to Mexico.

"We are by no means out of the woods," said Dr. Richard Besser, acting director of the CDC. "In this situation, it's critical that we continue to maintain and strengthen our alert and surveillance," said Keiji Fukuda, the WHO's acting director-general.

The WHO raised its alert level to level five last Wednesday, which indicates a pandemic is imminent, and the organization’s chief again raised the prospect of it being increased to the maximum of six, which would mean a global outbreak had begun.

In China, the centre of the 2003 SARS outbreak, has come under diplomatic pressure over its hardline efforts to halt the disease in its tracks, including a ban on imported pork from areas hit by swine flu.

Although no cases have been recorded on the Chinese mainland, dozens of Mexicans have been quarantined across the country, but were set to fly home as part of a repatriation deal between the two governments. China changed its visa rules for U.S. citizens. In Tokyo, 37 passengers and two flight attendants on a flight from Los Angeles were detained in a hotel after Japanese officials suspected one traveler of having swine flu. They were released about 10 hours later, an official said.