| | |  Travel & Outdoors | May 2009 
UK Lifts Mexico Travel Ban
 John Paul Cordina - di-ve.com
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A decline in the number of new swine flu cases in Mexico has led the British government to lift its ban on nonessential travel to the Central American country. The UK’s Foreign and Commonwealth Office noted that in Mexico, the outbreak peaked on April 26, although it added that travellers should continue to follow advice on precautions to avoid exposure to the flu.
The director general of public health regulation, Ray Busuttil, told www.di-ve.com that “while the UK position has been noted, the local authorities feel that at present it will still recommend to people to try to avoid unnecessary travel to Mexico”.
Dr Busuttil added that no cases have been identified, or even suspected, in Malta, and that the necessary preparations are being made to ensure that everything is in place should the country’s plans need to be activated.
Meanwhile, Japan reported 21 new cases, which were all high school students with no recent travel history or contact with the country’s 4 other confirmed cases. The World Health Organisation, however, reported that there were still no clear signs of the virus transmitting into local communities.
By 0800h on Monday morning, the number of confirmed cases in EU and EFTA countries amounted to 263, of which 94 cases were in-country transmissions. 14 new cases were confirmed in the previous 24 hours, all of which were reported in the UK.
The European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control (ECDC) said that the assessment for the region had not changed, and that the priority for Europe remained the containment of clustered in-country transmissions.
The total number of cases worldwide amounted to 8,732, of which 4,714 occurred in the US and 3,103 occurred in Mexico. There were 74 deaths among confirmed cases, 68 in Mexico, 4 in the US and 1 death in both Canada and Costa Rica.
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