Mexico's leadership in the global battle against swine flu has saved "thousands of lives," President Felipe Calderon has said, as experts warned the disease could re-emerge in a more virulent form.
Even as Mexico's government said it had brought the spread of the A(H1N1) virus under control, the United States and the United Nations urged continued vigilance as the number of human infections worldwide passed the 1,000 mark.
Mexico Orders Five-day Shutdown to Contain Flu Spread
Mexico was approved for three billion dollars in international loans to fight the swine flu crisis, as the country began a five-day shutdown Friday to try to halt the spread of the virus.
Mexico was approved for three billion dollars in international loans to fight the swine flu crisis, as the country began a five-day shutdown Friday to try to halt the spread of the virus.
Calderon, in a televised address late Monday, said Mexico had "taken the lead in the global battles against the virus".
Thanks to its "responsible" actions, "thousands of lives have been saved not only in Mexico but in the world," he said, adding that businesses, schools and museums closed for more than a week would begin to reopen from Wednesday.
New York and Mexico City: Flu Responses
Same urban setting, same flu virus -- but life couldn't be more different for residents of Mexico City and New York.
Same urban setting, same flu virus -- but life couldn't be more different for residents of Mexico City and New York.
That note of caution was repeated in Washington, where White House spokesman Robert Gibbs told reporters: "It's still out there."
Advertisement
Mexico Closes Archeological Sites to Curb Spread of Fatal Flu
Authorities in Mexico have ordered the closure of all archeological sites to the public in a further effort to stop the spread of a new fatal flu.
Authorities in Mexico have ordered the closure of all archeological sites to the public in a further effort to stop the spread of a new fatal flu.
The WHO has reported a total of 1,085 cases worldwide and 26 deaths, 25 of them in Mexico and one in the United States. Mexico puts its death toll at 26.
Advertisement
Mexico Steps Up Crackdown on Swine Flu As Toll Reaches 152
Mexican authorities shut schools across the country and tried to follow up with families of swine flu victims in a bid to stop the virus' spread, as the probable death toll rose to 152.
Mexican authorities shut schools across the country and tried to follow up with families of swine flu victims in a bid to stop the virus' spread, as the probable death toll rose to 152.
WHO chief Margaret Chan told UN officials in New York that despite the continued spread of the flu virus, a pandemic could not yet be declared.
"We don't know how long we have till we move to phase six. Six indicates we are in a pandemic. We are not there yet," she said.
Chan said the end of the flu season in the northern hemisphere meant that while any initial outbreak could be milder, a second wave could be more lethal, reflecting a pattern seen with the 1918 Spanish flu pandemic that killed up to 50 million people.
Its re-emergence "would be the biggest of all outbreaks the world has faced in the 21st century," she told the Financial Times.
UN chief Ban Ki-moon echoed appeals for caution, saying at the UN talks: "There is still much that is not known about this new strain and the dangers it poses... In the face of uncertainty, we must be vigilant."
Portugal became the latest European country to record a case of swine flu, while France announced two new confirmed cases as did Italy, doubling their previous caseloads. Britain put its case total at 27.
In China, the centre of the 2003 SARS outbreak, the government has come under diplomatic pressure after it quarantined foreigners in what it said was a bid to contain the disease.
Mexican travellers held at a Beijing hotel said they were told by their embassy to be ready to leave Tuesday, ending an enforced isolation that Mexico charged was unfairly targeting its citizens.
"We were told to be ready to go. We are just awaiting word," Gustavo Carrillo, a Mexican businessman, told AFP.
Mexican diplomats have complained to China that 70 of their countrymen were placed under seven-day isolation across China despite showing no signs of (A)H1N1.
A chartered AeroMexico airliner arrived in Shanghai on Tuesday to repatriate dozens of Mexican nationals.
Canada has asked Beijing to explain the quarantine of a group of Canadian students, Foreign Minister Lawrence Cannon said on Monday.
Despite showing no symptoms of infection from the virus and having no fever, they were told they would be quarantined for seven days at a local hotel, the CBC said, citing an email from one of the students.
In Hong Kong, the scene of Asia's first confirmed swine flu case, chief executive Donald Tsang on Tuesday apologised to guests quarantined in a city hotel for seven days, while defending the decision to isolate them.
Hong Kong's Metropark hotel, and the 300 staff and guests inside, has been sealed off since last Friday following the discovery that a Mexican visitor had tested positive for the A(H1N1) virus.
"What we have done is in the interests of both themselves and the public health," Tsang told reporters.
"Our thanks and apologies go in particular to those in the Metropark hotel. You are our guests. We can appreciate the boredom, frustration and dissatisfaction that the quarantine may have caused you."
Source-AFP
SRM
