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Mexico Seeks to Contain Swine Flu, Economic Impact

By: Olga

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The effort to fight the virus has a “high potential for disruption,” Finance Minister Agustin Carstens said today while speaking to reporters at the International Monetary Fund’s spring meetings. It’s too early to gauge the economic impact, he said.

The epidemic, which has claimed as many as 81 lives, threatens to deepen the country’s economic decline after U.S. demand for Mexican exports including cars and home appliances plummeted. The Mexican economy shrank 1.6 percent in the fourth quarter and probably contracted another 4.2 percent in the first three months of this year, according to a central bank survey of 32 economists published April 1.

President Felipe Calderon has been given emergency powers to order quarantines and suspend public events. So far, the government has closed schools in Mexico City and the states of Mexico and San Luis Potosi until May 6, and has canceled government activities that draw crowds.

“By agreement of the members of the economic cabinet and submitted for consideration by the president, economic activities won’t be suspended because of the epidemic,” Economy Minister Gerardo Ruiz said in a news conference last night. The government opted instead for actions that “mitigate the impact on the economy and on the functioning of society in general.”

Health Minister Jose Cordoba yesterday requested, but didn’t order, the closure of bars, movie theaters and churches.

Cases in U.S.

At least 20 deaths are confirmed in Mexico, Cordova said yesterday at a Mexico City news conference. The strain is a variant of the H1N1 swine influenza that has infected 11 people in Kansas, California and Texas and may have sickened at least eight students in New York.

Of 1,324 patients who were hospitalized with the flu-like symptoms, 929 have been treated and released, Calderon said today following a meeting of the General Health Council. The remaining patients are still under observation, he said.

In the U.S., 20 people have confirmed cases of swine flu linked to the Mexican virus, and the acting head of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said officials expect more severe infections to begin showing up.

Mexican Finance Minister Agustin Carstens said it’s too early to gauge the effect of the outbreak on Latin America’s second-largest economy.

Economic Impact

“It’s hard to say at this stage how deep and how wide and how long this episode will be,” Carstens told reporters in Washington yesterday, where he was attending a meeting of the World Bank and International Monetary Fund. “If we are successful the impact should be minor.”

Isidro Reyes, who was selling cheeses and fruits from the back of his pickup truck in Mexico City’s Roma neighborhood, said business had fallen 50 percent since April 24, when the government first shut schools.

Empty Streets

“People are scared,” said Reyes, 29. “We’re alone on the streets.”

Raul Sanchez, a 49-year-old taxi driver in Mexico City, said business has dropped by half since April 24.

“People don’t even want to leave their houses,” he said. “It was bad enough with the economic situation, and now it’s even worse.”

The World Bank has agreed to loan Mexico $205 million to flight swine flu, Carstens said. Of that amount, $25 million will be disbursed immediately for the government to buy medicines and equipment to detect and fight the virus.

The Finance Ministry said last night the government has 6 billion pesos ($450 million) from an emergency fund to fight the virus and will help state governments cover the costs by advancing budget transfer payments.

No foreign government has banned travel to Mexico, Economy Minister Ruiz said yesterday. Foreign tourism, which amounted to $13.3 billion in 2008, is Mexico’s third-largest source of foreign currency behind oil exports and remittances from Mexicans who live abroad.

No Hesitation

The emergency decree, published in the state gazette, gives the president authority to take wider action. Still, Calderon urged Mexicans to remain calm.

“It’s very important to act rapidly and to act seriously, but it’s also important to maintain calm and collaborate with authorities and inform about cases that present themselves,” Calderon said following today’s health council meeting, according to a transcript from his office.

The first case was seen in Mexico on April 13. The outbreak coincided with U.S. President Barack Obama’s trip to Mexico City on April 16. Obama was received at Mexico’s anthropology museum in Mexico City by Felipe Solis, a distinguished archeologist who passed away days later from symptoms similar to flu, Reforma newspaper reported. Solis died of pneumonia, Cordoba said yesterday, and studies so far show his illness wasn’t related to the flu.

Obama’s press secretary, Robert Gibbs, said today in Washington that the president was never in danger of contracting the disease.

Requested Collaboration

The Mexican government is distributing breathing masks to curtail the disease’s spread. Soldiers in army trucks handed out face masks today in Mexico City’s downtown square, known as the Zocalo.

There is no vaccine against the new strain of swine flu, health authorities said. Early treatment can help beat back the disease, said Calderon, who has declined to shake hands in public to set an example of measures people should take.

“This is very important: The disease is curable and we have the medicine for it,” Calderon said today.

The demand for masks made them scarce in Mexico City. Pharmacies in the Roma neighborhood had makeshift signs on the walls alerting customers that face masks had run out. The economy ministry will be watching for price abuses related to medicine and articles needed to combat the flu, Ruiz said.

The Health Ministry in a statement today warned companies, pharmacies and other sellers of medicine to not advertise products that “supposedly cure swine flu and only confuse people.”

Museums, theaters and other venues in the Mexico City area, where large crowds gather, have shut down voluntarily and concerts and other events have been canceled to help contain the disease. Two professional soccer games will be played today in different Mexico City stadiums without any fans.

“We request the collaboration to reduce the sources of contact by suspending events in closed or open spaces of any type,” Cordoba said.

Murals Closed

Soldiers wearing face masks stood at the entrance of the national palace, telling tourists that the site of famous Diego Rivera murals was closed until further notice.

Cristiana Correa, 29-year-old tourist from Brazil, wandered the vast Zocalo with a guide book and map in hand trying to find a tourist attraction that was open. Correa said she’s concerned she won’t be able to see much during her two-day stay in the city.

“I don’t have anything to do,” she said. “Today, I planned to see the National Palace and the Templo Mayor. Yesterday, I tried to go to the Frida Kahlo museum.”

Emergency Decree

The emergency decree lets Calderon regulate transportation, send inspectors into any home or building, order quarantines and assign any task to all federal, state and local authorities as well as health professionals to combat the disease.

“The health of Mexicans is a cause that we’re defending with unity and responsibility,” Calderon said. “I know that although it’s a grave problem, a serious problem, we’re going to overcome it.”

Mexico City’s international airport, which handles about 70,000 passengers each day, was operating normally today, according to its press office. Passengers are given a questionnaire asking if they have flu symptoms and recommending they cancel their trip and see a doctor if they do.

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