Edinburgh teacher tells of swine flu panic on Mexico trip

Published on Wednesday 29 April 2009 09:53

AN Edinburgh teacher visiting Mexico City has told how the swine flu outbreak is affecting people in the Latin American country.

Fran Platt and partner Stuart Robson, from Gorgie, arrived in Mexico City on Saturday and have seen first-hand the fear over swine flu.

Arriving by bus into the Mexican capital, they were greeted by the sight of soldiers handing out masks to passengers and within hours all bars, nightclubs and restaurants in the city had been ordered to shut.

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Ms Platt, 27, a teacher at Royal Mile Primary, has been travelling around the world with her partner for six months, and they were due to fly to Los Angeles today.

She said: "We asked all the travellers who had just come from Mexico City the day before if they'd heard or seen anything but they had no idea what we were talking about.

"We decided to travel anyway.

"When we got to the bus terminal in Oaxaca, a few people had face masks on. But when we got off the bus about 60 per cent of people had masks on.

"We've checked the net when we can and when we went out there were people handing out masks and leaflets in Spanish about not hand-shaking or kissing people, and explaining what the virus was.

"Most people we see and speak to are not in a state of panic. When you walk the streets there are many people not wearing masks. We did go to the supermarket last night and the place was packed with a lot of panic buyers and shelves being emptied."

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