Locks Down Public Places

MEXICO'S government kept the country's public venues locked down today as it grappled with the new strain of flu that is suspected to have killed as many as 159 people. Health Minister Jose Angel Cordova raised the toll of “probable” deaths from swine flu to 159 by late Tuesday, up by seven over the day before. Of that figure, 26 were found to have been affected by the A/H1N1 swine flu virus and seven of those “corresponded beyond any doubt to deaths caused by the new virus.” Cordova said the discrepancy with the government's previous figure of 20 “confirmed deaths” came about because of new, more rigorous testing being carried out in US and Canadian laboratories in conjunction with the World Health Organization. Bars, cafes, gyms, cinemas, Aztec ruins and football games were ordered closed to the public today as the Mexican government battled the spread of the virus.

The measures, concentrated in Mexico City but also felt in many places across the country where people might gather, came as tourist numbers dwindled, amid increased jitters worldwide over the disease. Nearly empty planes flew into the capital, which itself was unnervingly quiet, with most shops shuttered. Many people wore medical masks to cover their mouths and noses. Traffic - usually a nightmare in this city of 20 million inhabitants - was unusually fluid. Schools have been closed by federal government order until May 6 at least. Mexico City's municipal authorities said all food, party, cultural and sports establishments where groups of people normally congregated had to close under threat of fines and being shuttered. Eateries would only be permitted to serve takeaway meals. “We're in the critical moment, in that we have to manage as a city so it does not become an exponential infection,” Mayor Marcelo Ebrard told journalists.

Restaurant owners complained that the measure against food venues in the central part of Mexico City would affect 450,000 hospitality workers and take a chunk out of an already fragile economy. “It's easy to tell us to close, but how are we going to live? They say it's for my health but either I'll die from the disease or I'll die from hunger,” a cafe owner in the capital, Rene Perez Lozano, told AFP. All archeological sites in the country, including Mexico's world-famous Aztec and Mayan pyramids, were also closed “until further notice,” the National Institute of Anthropology and History said in a statement soon afterwards. Tour companies in Britain, France and Germany have cancelled trips to Mexico, as have major US cruise lines and a Canadian airline, Air Transat. Cuba said it was suspending all flights to and from Mexico until Friday. And Argentina barred direct flights from Mexico until next Monday.

The declining number of foreign visitors was certain to hurt the country's tourist industry, which was the nation's third-biggest foreign income earner. In an AeroMexico flight that landed in Mexico City today, only around one-third of the seats were occupied - and most of them by Mexicans returning home. Several passengers and most of the crew wore masks, though almost none of them the N95 type that filters out the small airborne particles believed to carry the flu virus. “I'm a little afraid, but I've got a corporate video shoot all organised and I can't miss it,” a Brazilian video director, Messina Neto, told AFP on the flight. One of the stewards, when asked about his mask, said he had bought it himself at a pharmacy out of concern of contagion. “It's better than nothing,” he said.