With reduced speed of the spread of deadly influenza A/H1N1 – commonly called ‘swine flu’ - in Mexico City, the ‘epicenter’ of the flu, the government Wednesday announced that all the businesses that had been shut down as a preventive measure can start operating again. The authorities have also begun reopening a few public institutions - including high schools, universities, museums, libraries, and courts.

Making the announcement, Armando Ahued, the Mexico City health secretary, said that though the businesses – which include sports arenas, dance halls, cinemas and all restaurants – can re-commence their activities, they still must screen people for the illness, and make surgical masks obligatory for employees as well as customers.  

The screening and the masks are necessary as the country’s Health Secretary Jose Angel Cordova did not mince words while admitting that though the “tendency” of the flu outbreak in Mexico City – which has been on high alert for over two weeks during which the flu hit 1,112 people countrywide and claimed 42 lives - had weakened, it had not disappeared completely.

Saying that the city government is reopening nearly 3,554 institutions and putting in 700 million pesos to undertake cleanliness and sanitation-related measures, Mayor Marcelo Ebrard Casaubon said: “We now have to focus on ensuring that the daily activities we are restarting are followed with appropriate precautions.”