++ During a press conference on Wednesday evening, Health Secretary José Ángel Córdova Villalobos said that in view of the decision by the World Health Organization, or WHO, to raise the pandemic alert level to Phase 5 the Mexican government was canceling all public sector activities and all non-essential economic sector activities from May 1st through May 5th. (Comment: What does this mean? That the federal government will close down and all non essential activities. Sooooo: The police, army, hospitals, doctors and other essential services will be provided …and the federal government is asking state governments to also start a partial shutdown of local governments. In the private sector we can expect the continued function of supermarkets, pharmacies, gas stations, hospitals, media outlets, communications companies, banks etc…any company or individual who provides essential services for the populations. Everyone else goes on a long forced vacation, from the first to fifth of May. In fact this Thursday is the last labor day… People will go to work basically to take the steps to close down, and get their paycheck.)
++Also, Secretary Córdova stated that the number of confirmed deaths from swine flu in Mexico had risen to eight. (Comment: If you are confused, so am I. Yesterday the government stated that they suspected more than 150 deaths related to the swine flu, and now they are talking about only 8 deaths….The bottom line is that there is 99 confirmed cases of people who had the Swine influenza based on test of which 8 died. The government suspects that there is now 176 deaths that they believe are probably related to the Swine Flu and there are 2955 persons who got ill, probably because of this flu. The massive testing began last night, so they expect that the number is going to shoot up in the next couple of days….)
++ Earlier, the Health Secretariat said that the number of people affected by swine flu rose to 49… Four fatal victims were from the Federal District, two from the State of Mexico and a woman in Oaxaca.
++ A 22-month old Mexican child died of swine flu in Texas… It was the first case of a confirmed death from swine flu in the United States.
++Córdova Villalobos announcement followed WHO’s decision raising the pandemic alert level to Phase 5, meaning that a pandemic is now “imminent.” According to WHO the number of swine flu cases all over the world rose to 148… Phase 5 means the virus has emerged in at least two countries and affected people who have not traveled abroad.
At a news conference in Geneva, WHO director general, Margaret Chan, said all of humanity faced the threat of a pandemic.
++ President Felipe Calderón met with former health secretaries Guillermo Soberón, Julio Frenk, Jesús Kumate and Juan Ramón de la Fuente to analyze the situation the swine flu epidemic is posing for Mexico. Jesús Kumate said the epidemic could affect the country for at least a year, since there are relapses or renewed outbreaks… He said that in the case of influenza, the renewed outbreaks occur every two months, or what could happen also is that the virus could mutate yet again over that year. (Comment: What Dr. Kumate is trying to tell us that it is unlikely that children will be returning to school and economic activities will not return to normal by May 6th.)
++ Mexico City Mayor Marcelo Ebrard acknowledged that the measures taken to confront the swine flu epidemic have negatively affected different sectors of the economy, but he said they are necessary to protect human lives… He said that for the time being canceling public transportation is still not an option being considered by authorities.
++ Federal District Finance Secretary Mario Delgado announced that starting next Monday Mexico City’s nearly 35,000 waiters, who are losing out on tips because of the restaurant shutdown, will be given 50 pesos daily during the crisis. (Comment: I am not too sure how 50 pesos a day will make a difference…)
++ Bank of Mexico Governor Guillermo Ortiz said the crisis situation caused by the swine flu epidemic will have a detrimental effect on Mexico’s economy, especially on tourism… Although he predicted recovery will be speedy. (Comment: Secretary of Finance, Agustin Carstens also predicted a rapid recovery… I am not too sure on what they are basing their predictions. Let´s face it, even without the Swine Flu outbreak there was concerns about Mexico´s economic recovery….Cant´ imagine what will happen now… )
Comentarios
Publicar un comentario