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Women wear masks as they wait inside a Mixcoac health centre in Mexico City - Source: Reuters -
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Two-thirds of the roughly 1,300 people in Mexico suspected of
being infected with a fatal new strain of swine flu have been given
a clean bill of health and sent home from the hospital, President
Felipe Calderon said.
Calderon said more than 900 people had been declared healthy and
nearly 400 others with flu-like symptoms were in hospitals being
checked.
Fears of a global swine flu pandemic are growing with new
infections cropping up in the United States and Canada.
Millions of Mexicans hid indoors to avoid a virus that has
killed up to 81 people across the country.
Calderon reassured Mexicans that the flu is curable with drugs and
said Mexico has ample stocks of antiviral medicine.
"It's very important to act fast and take this seriously, but it's
also very important to stay calm, co-operate with authorities and
inform them of any cases that arise," he said during a meeting of
health officials.
Meanwhile, Canada reported its first confirmed cases of swine flu at opposite ends of the country, with two cases in the western province of British Columbia and four in the Atlantic province of Nova Scotia.
Nova Scotia health officials said four cases among students who recently travelled to Mexico had been confirmed with tests at a national lab in Winnipeg.
The World Health Organization has declared the flu, of a type
never seen before, a public health emergency of international
concern and says it could become a pandemic, or a global outbreak
of serious disease.
A pandemic would deal a major blow to a world economy already
suffering its worst recession in decades, and experts say it could
cost trillions of dollars.
A 1968 Hong Kong flu pandemic killed about one million people
globally.
Mexico City, one of the world's biggest cities, practically
ground to a halt with restaurants, cinemas and churches closing
their doors and millions staying at home as officials tested 1,300
suspect cases.
Have you been affected by the swine influenza? Are you a
relative of one of the people affected in NZ? Email us at
news@tvnz.co.nz
.
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flu Twitter feed. -
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http://twitter.com/SwineFluNZNews
