Swine Flu: Worst is over

03 May 2009 @ 01:31 pm EDT

The influenza AH1N1 the virus that has claimed the lives of 19 people in Mexico is on the decrease according to the Federal Health Minister, Jose Angel Cordova Villalobos the El Universal reported.

People stand inside the Basilica de Guadalupe in Mexico City May 3, 2009. Religious services are shut to the public in the capital since the flu outbreak but Mexican Health Minister Jose Angel Cordova said on Sunday the country's H1N1 flu virus epidemic had passed its peak and was now declining. He added, though, that it was too early for Mexico -- the epicenter of an outbreak that has spread to 19 countries -- to let down its guard. New cases of...

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Cordova said the outbreak appeared to have peaked in Mexico between April 23 and 28 and fewer people had admitted themselves to hospitals with serious flu symptoms in the last few days.

"The evolution of the epidemic is now in its phase of descent," he told a news conference in Mexico City, where millions of people heeded government advice to stay at home.

"There is evidence that we are going downward."

U.S. officials said they were encouraged by the developments in Mexico but added it was too early to relax.

Scientists are still trying to assess how the new virus behaves and compares to regular seasonal flu strains, which kill between 250,000 and 500,000 globally every year.

Swine Flu: Worst is over

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