Flu Situation May be Stabilizing
By Pork news staff
| Monday, May 04, 2009
This week, Mexico City will begin to return to normal. The Mayor of Mexico City, Marcelo Ebrard, said Monday that the Mexican capital will begin to reopen businesses after much of the city was closed due to the new H1N1 influenza virus. Health Secretary Jose Cordova says most economic activity will resume Wednesday.
Ebrard says some businesses such as cafes, museums and libraries will reopen this week but that before students can return to class health officials need to finish inspecting schools. Mexico is believed to be the source of the swine flu outbreak that has led to more than 1,000 cases in 20 countries. Cordova says Mexico has confirmed 727 cases and 26 deaths.
Meanwhile, the World Health Organization has no plans at this time to raise its pandemic alert level above a 5, U.N. chief Ban Ki-moon said Monday.
On Monday, the CDC said the U.S. had 245 confirmed cases in 35 states. CDC says about a third of the confirmed U.S. cases of H1N1 flu are people who had been to Mexico and likely picked up the infection there.
“There is also still no evidence of community-level spread of the new flu H1N1 virus outside North America,” says Keiji Fukuda, WHO acting assistant director-general. "We do not have any evidence that the virus has taken hold and has led to community-level transmissions in any other country right now outside North America."
