Posted: 16 May 2009 1141 hrs
WASHINGTON: The US government on Friday lifted its advisory against non-essential travel to Mexico that was introduced following the outbreak of swine flu in that country.
"The Department of State wishes to inform US citizens travelling to and residing in Mexico that on May 15 2009, the US Centres for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) lifted its recommendation that American citizens avoid all nonessential travel to Mexico," the department said in an advisory.
"As a result of the CDC's decision, the State Department's Travel Alert relating to the 2009-H1N1 influenza outbreak is no longer in effect," the statement continued.
The CDC said for its part that there was evidence that the Mexican outbreak was slowing down in many cities.
"In addition, the United States and other countries are now seeing increasing numbers of cases not associated with travel to Mexico," the centres said. "Finally, the risk of severe disease from novel H1N1 virus infection now appears to be less than originally thought."
At the same time, the US government said travellers to Mexico should continue to take precaution to reduce their risk of infection while in Mexico.
The warning against travel to Mexico came last month, on the heels of the World Health Organization (WHO) reporting on April 24 that a new and fast-spreading strain of H1N1 or swine-origin influenza had been detected in the country.
As travellers shunned Mexico, the country's tourism industry, which with business travel usually brings between 22 and 23 million visitors to the Latin American country each year, took a huge hit.
US airlines cut capacity on hundreds of flights to Mexico because of the sharp fall in reservations earlier this month when fears were at their peak that the flu outbreak would reach the scale of a global pandemic.
International cruise ship companies diverted liners away from Mexican ports, and British, French and German tour operators cancelled packages to the country.
- AFP/so
"The Department of State wishes to inform US citizens travelling to and residing in Mexico that on May 15 2009, the US Centres for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) lifted its recommendation that American citizens avoid all nonessential travel to Mexico," the department said in an advisory.
"As a result of the CDC's decision, the State Department's Travel Alert relating to the 2009-H1N1 influenza outbreak is no longer in effect," the statement continued.
The CDC said for its part that there was evidence that the Mexican outbreak was slowing down in many cities.
"In addition, the United States and other countries are now seeing increasing numbers of cases not associated with travel to Mexico," the centres said. "Finally, the risk of severe disease from novel H1N1 virus infection now appears to be less than originally thought."
At the same time, the US government said travellers to Mexico should continue to take precaution to reduce their risk of infection while in Mexico.
The warning against travel to Mexico came last month, on the heels of the World Health Organization (WHO) reporting on April 24 that a new and fast-spreading strain of H1N1 or swine-origin influenza had been detected in the country.
As travellers shunned Mexico, the country's tourism industry, which with business travel usually brings between 22 and 23 million visitors to the Latin American country each year, took a huge hit.
US airlines cut capacity on hundreds of flights to Mexico because of the sharp fall in reservations earlier this month when fears were at their peak that the flu outbreak would reach the scale of a global pandemic.
International cruise ship companies diverted liners away from Mexican ports, and British, French and German tour operators cancelled packages to the country.
- AFP/so
From ChannelNewsAsia.com; see the source article here.
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