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MEXICO CITY: Mexico on Friday said it appeared H1N1 flu was "not so aggressive" as first feared, but after raising its death toll by one to 16, the country warned the epidemic remained "unpredictable".
Health Minister Jose Angel Cordova told a news conference lab tests on a backlog of suspect cases also showed a total of 381 people were infected, an increase of 53 over the previous tally given earlier in the day.
"Crucial data" was still lacking on the H1N1 virus, he said, making it impossible right now to work out how lethal and contagious it was.
"At the moment it is unpredictable," he said. "We need more days to see what the behaviour is."
Cordova said the majority of the confirmed fatalities from the virus were women – including one who was seven months pregnant.
Mexico is at the epicenter of the flu epidemic, the source of the biggest number of infections worldwide and all the deaths except for one – a Mexican child on a visit to the United States.
The World Health Organization has warned a global pandemic from the virus is "imminent" and several countries, including China on Friday, have cut flights to or from Mexico.
Continued fear over the epidemic saw millions of Mexicans observing a call by President Felipe Caldron to "stay at home" for a five-day long weekend in a bid to contain the virus.
All but essential business and offices were closed for that period, along with schools, popular tourist sites such as Aztec and Mayan ruins, and all bars, restaurants, clubs and cinemas in the capital.
Some chafed at the restrictions, however.
Thousands of wealthier Mexicans fled the capital to go to their usual beach getaways, petrifying locals.
"They shouldn't be coming, they're bringing the virus with them," said one worried resident in the coastal resort of Acapulco, Edgar Rubio Hernandez.
Cars and at least one bus coming from the capital were reportedly pelted with stones by locals.
In a prison in the north of the capital holding 8,000 inmates, a small protest broke out over a temporary ban on visitors. A penitentiary official told AFP some prisoners set fire to a mattress and papers in "a small incident" to protest the measure, meant to stop contagion.
The government estimated that tourist numbers were down by 50 per cent in Mexico for early May, based on the high number of hotel cancellations and a significant drop in arrivals at airports.
Amid the ordeals, there was a glimmer of hope in an apparent declining growth in the number of new flu cases reported daily.
Cordova told a news conference early Friday: "Fortunately the virus is not so aggressive – it's not a case of avian flu, which had a mortality rate of nearly 70 per cent."
Mexico City mayor Marcelo Ebrard acknowledged there could be a stabilization in the flu situation emerging, but said "the next 10 days will be critical" in deciding whether restrictions should continue or not.
"We had to take all the measures we did," he told reporters. "We are going to be alert to see how this trend develops."
- AFP/so
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