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The threat of a flu pandemic gripped the world on Monday, as a virus that has killed 103 people in Mexico and shut down chunks of the capital spread to the United States and as far as New Zealand.
The dollar weakened along with Mexico's peso as Asian markets were rattled by an outbreak that ballooned over the weekend, prompting the World Health Organization to activate its 24-hour "war room" command center.
No deaths have occurred outside Mexico from the new strain of swine flu but 20 cases have been identified in the United States and six in Canada. Possible cases are being checked as far afield as Europe, Israel and New Zealand.
Mexico, a major exporter of oil, coffee and factory goods, faced a week unlike any before as schools were closed in several states in order to slow the spread of the virus and the densely populated capital ground to a halt. Mexico City's bars, museums and stadiums shut and many office workers were set to work from home as a precaution.
Many in the capital spent the weekend hunkered at home or wore blue surgical face masks handed out by truckloads of soldiers to venture out onto strangely hushed streets. The city government mulled halting public transport.
Health Minister Jose Angel Cordova said late on Sunday that the flu had killed 103 people in Mexico and about 400 people were hospitalized.
A glimmer of hope was that most patients had recovered.
The new flu strain, a mixture of various swine, bird and human viruses, poses the biggest risk of a large-scale pandemic since avian flu surfaced in 1997, killing several hundred people. A 1968 "Hong Kong" flu pandemic killed about 1 million people globally.
The United States declared a public health emergency on Sunday. Although most cases outside Mexico were relatively mild, a top official at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, said she feared there might be U.S. fatalities.
PHOTO CAPTION
Malaysia's health officials check temperature on passengers arriving from Los Angeles through Taipei for possible infection of the swine flu at Kuala Lumpur International Airport April 27, 2009.
Reuters
