Mexico reopens schools after flu closures

MILLIONS of children, many wearing surgical masks, returned to scrubbed and disinfected classrooms yesterday after a nationwide shutdown to curb the spread of swine flu in Mexico.

As the worldwide toll of deaths linked to the illness rose to 61, pressure increased for massive production of generic versions of expensive antiviral drugs.

Mainland China got its first confirmed swine flu case – a Chinese man who had been studying at the University of Missouri – prompting a scramble to find and quarantine more than 200 fellow passengers on his flight to China.

Some Mexican parents were worried about sending their children back so soon.

“Imagine with this disease. What if she gets it?” said Filomena Pena Carriles, outside the Ignacio L Vallarta elementary school in Mexico city with her 8-year-old daughter, Esmeralda, who wore a mask as she waited for teachers to check each of the 135 students for flu symptoms.

Mexico’s last confirmed swine flu death occurred a week ago on May 4, although several more recent deaths are being analysed, and Mexico has confirmed no new infections since Thursday. Tests on backlogged samples from earlier deaths caused Mexico’s toll to rise by eight yesterday.

“We could now be in a declining phase, toward the extinction of the epidemic, but this does not suggest a total relaxation of safety measures,” Health Secretary Jose Angel Cordova said.

The swine flu epidemic is continuing to spread around the globe, with international health authorities reporting more than 4,700 confirmed cases in 30 nations. There are 61 deaths tied to the virus – 56 in Mexico, three in the US, one in Canada and one in Costa Rica.