Thursday April 30, 2009

Mexico to shut down economy as WHO says swine flu pandemic imminent

news.yahoo.com :

Mexican President Felipe Calderon told his people to stay home from Friday [1 May 2009] for a five-day partial shutdown of the economy, after the World Health Organization said a swine flu pandemic was imminent. Calderon ordered government offices and private businesses not crucial to the economy to stop work to avoid further infections from the new virus, which has killed up to 176 people in Mexico and is now spreading around the world. 12 countries have reported cases of the H1N1 strain, with the Netherlands the latest to join the list.

WHO raised its alert level to phase 5, the last step before a pandemic. Mexico's central bank warned the outbreak could deepen the nation's recession, hurting an economy that has already shrunk 8% from the previous year in Q1 2009. The United States, Canada and many other countries have advised against non-essential travel to Mexico. Many tourists were hurrying to leave, crowding airports.

- This thing is spreading a little *too* rapidly. From being practically unheard of to just about a full-blown epidemic all in one week. The alternative media is already out in full force :

The new Mexican Swine Flu has elements of DNA from the following: avian flu, human flu Type A, human flu Type B, Asian swine flu, and European swine flu. A strange combination never seen before and having less than 1/10% chance of being a natural event. Human and animal viruses from four or more continents suddenly recombine in a new flu during a non-flu season that spreads from human-to-human with a 10% fatality rating ...

- That last part above has been reported by the MSM (mainstream media) as well, and there's quite a bit of buzz about it. Some people are thinking the unthinkable, and who can blame them? Stories like these (vials of a swine flu variant exploding on a train) aren't very helpful either.

(2009-04-30 23:46:45 SGT) [Biz] Permalink

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