Five-day close of business in Mexico over swine flu lifts

MEXICO RETURNED to something like normal life yesterday after a five-day shutdown of businesses due to the H1N1 flu virus, which has spread across Europe and claimed a second life in the United States.

Traffic clogged the Mexican capital, one of the world’s biggest cities, and street vendors returned to work even as the government reported the confirmed death toll from swine flu in Mexico had jumped to 42. Most of the additional fatalities died several weeks ago.

Sweden and Poland joined the list of affected countries. Sweden said a woman in her 50s who visited Chicago had tested positive for the virus known as swine flu – a mixture of swine viruses and elements of human and bird flu.

The US now has 642 cases, the Centre for Disease Control and Prevention reported, and is on alert after a Texan woman died this week. Mexican president Felipe Calderon cautioned against complacency yesterday. “It’s not time to claim victory and say, ‘It’s over,’” he said on a visit to a hospital in the state of Michoacan.

There have been 1,516 officially reported cases in 22 countries, the World Health Organisation said in Geneva. It confirmed more infections in Britain, Spain, Italy and Germany. If the UN agency detects a sustained spread within Europe – as there has been in North America – this could trigger the official declaration of a pandemic.

Meanwhile, the only Irish person to have swine flu has been cured of the disease and is no longer in quarantine. The man, believed in his 20s and from south Dublin, contracted the illness while visiting Mexico. He was treated with the anti-viral drug Tamiflu, placed in quarantine for seven days and has made a full recovery, doctors said yesterday.

The head of health protection at the Health Service Executive (HSE) Dr Kevin Kelleher said the man no longer needed to be under the body’s supervision: “The person is able to go about his business as he so desires. I would like to say thanks to the person who bore the situation very well.”

Speaking at the daily media briefing in Government Buildings, chief medical officer Dr Tony Holohan said there are now no probable or confirmed cases in Ireland. He said Ireland’s relative isolation from Mexico, – with no direct flights to and from the country – was a factor in the low incidences of the disease. He described Ireland’s level of preparedness as “exactly where we want it to be” if the outbreak becomes a pandemic. The HSE has put information on its website on what should be done in a pandemic. It stresses nobody should wear a face mask except if there is a case in their home. – (Additional reporting: Reuters)