Swine flu continues to spread to more countries

Published on 12/05/2009 15:51

SWINE flu spread to more countries today as scientists estimated the new strain could have infected 23,000 people in Mexico alone before anyone realised it was an epidemic.

Mexican Health Secretary Jose Cordova said his nation's shutdown of schools – which was lifted in most of the country's 31 states yesterday – had averted an avalanche of cases.

"It would have been difficult for us to have controlled this epidemic," he said, adding that Mexico had 56 deaths and 2,059 confirmed cases of swine flu.

Thailand and Finland reported their first confirmed swine cases of people just arrived from Mexico today. Cuba and China – both countries that had imposed strict measures on flights and travellers from Mexico – also reported their first confirmed cases.

Cuba identified its patient as a Mexican student attending a Cuban medical school and China said its case involved a Chinese student who had just returned from the United States.

At least 61 people have been killed by swine flu around the world, and the World Health Organisation has confirmed over 5,250 cases.

Cuba's Health Ministry said a group of medical students from Mexico began arriving on the island to resume their studies April 25 – four days before Cuban authorities halted airline flights from Mexico. Fourteen of the students suffered from flu-like symptoms.

A study published yesterday in the journal Science estimated Mexico alone may have had 23,000 cases of swine flu by April 23, the day it announced the epidemic.

In Mexico the reopening of nurseries and primary and middle schools shut since April 24 was the latest step in efforts to restore a sense of normality. Businesses, government services, high schools and universities reopened last week.

But six of Mexico's 31 states put off reopening schools for a week because of local rises in the number of flu cases, and a seventh pushed it back a day to Tuesday. The Education Department said it will tack an extra seven days onto the school calendar to make up for the lost time.

But while officials praised the health and education systems for their response to the crisis, there were signs that Mexico's overburdened health system was under strain.

Dozens of government health care workers, including doctors and nurses, marched and blocked streets in the Gulf coast city of Jalapa to demand higher pay and better working conditions.

Mexico is trying to revive its economy after the epidemic pummelled tourism, the country's third-largest source of legal foreign income.