MEXICO: Mexico City re-opens after a five-day shutdown as the death toll from a deadly full outbreak jumps to 42

Record ID: 306123

  • Title: MEXICO: Mexico City re-opens after a five-day shutdown as the death toll from a deadly full outbreak jumps to 42
  • Date: 7th May 2009
  • Summary: VARIOUS OF PEOPLE READING NEWSPAPERS NEWS CONFERENCE WITH MEXICO CITY MAYOR MARCELO EBRARD (SOUNDBITE) (Spanish) MEXICO CITY MAYOR MARCELO EBRARD, SAYING: "The public transport system, high schools, university, museums and libraries, all their activities will restart today. For all of these, we have set an intensive sanitation control programme and carried out preparatory
  • Embargoed: 22nd May 2009 13:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: Mexico
  • Country: Mexico
  • Topics: Health
  • Reuters ID: LVAT5DO9XO60YH84EG9EY7E1F2C
  • Story Text: The Mexican capital began to stir back to life on Wednesday (May 6) with the streets again clogged with traffic after authorities lifted a five-day shutdown to try to contain the deadly H1N1 flu.
    The city's mayor said things were moving back to normal.
    "The public transport system, high schools, university, museums and libraries, all their activities will restart today. For all of these, we have set an intensive sanitation control programme and carried out preparatory work to make sure that they work according to the sanitation rules that we have established," said Mexico City Mayor Marcelo Ebrard.
    The city re-opened as the number of Mexicans who died from the new flu virus jumped to 42.
    "There are 1112 cases, out of which 1070 are alive and there are 42 dead. Out of the 42 dead, only one was registered yesterday," said Mexican Health Minister Jose Angel Cordova, as the country tried to return to normal after a five-day shutdown.
    The death toll in Mexico from the H1N1 flu had previously been 29, but Cordova told reporters tests had come in that confirmed additional cases, mostly of people who died several weeks ago.
    The government says the infection is on the retreat in Mexico, although the disease is spreading globally and the number of deaths in the United States rose to two when a Texas woman died this week.
    Health authorities had said as many as 176 people could have died from the new flu in Mexico but that the true number of deaths may never be known.
    The World Health Organization says 1,516 people in 22 countries have caught the virus.
    "We continue in phase five in agreement with the World health Organisation. There has not been a change in this so the whole world continues like this, in a phase of alert. The actions we need to apply as a country with confirmed cases are measures, which have been revising. We have taken actions as though we are in phase six. We believe that it is very important to continue with preventative actions as we have returned to work and classes.
    People need to keep washing their hands frequently, we need people to not gather in large groups, and we need sick people, both children and adults, to not go to work or school, but go to medical centres," said Cordova.
    Traffic was brisk in Mexico City on Wednesday morning after the government lifted a closure of workplaces aimed at preventing contamination.
    Some government buildings handed out surgical masks and latex gloves to employees to prevent the spread of the virus.
    The government ordered all non-essential businesses to close last week to prevent infection, bringing Mexico City almost to a halt.
    The public transport network has taken to disinfecting coins to prevent spread of the virus, which contains DNA typical to avian, swine and human viruses.
    Mexican schools remain closed as a precaution against the never-before-seen flu strain.
    Restaurants and cinemas are reopening, although with temporary requirements for additional space between customers.
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