In flu-wary Mexico City, residents staying at home
By Mica Rosenberg and Alistair Bell
MEXICO CITY, April 25 (Reuters) - Parents canceled children's parties, nightclubbers were booted out and people stocked up on DVDs as Mexico City residents huddled at home for the weekend in the midst of a serious influenza scare.
The capital, one of the world's biggest cities, suspended public events and closed bars and restaurants to try to halt the spread of a new flu virus that has killed up to 68 people in Mexico and infected at least eight in the United States.
The World Health Organization warned that the swine flu outbreak could become a pandemic, putting health authorities around the globe on alert.
Sidewalks were quiet in central Mexico City, a sprawling metropolis that is home to some 20 million people and where most of the confirmed flu deaths have occurred.
Bird song echoed clearly through an almost deserted Chapultepec Park, which usually rings with the sound of boisterous large families on joy rides and rowing boats.
As millions more people than usual stayed indoors, DVD rental stores did a roaring trade.
"A ton of people have been coming in. They come and rent three movies at once because they know they are going to stay in the house all weekend," said Manuel Garcia, 28, an employee at a DVD rental shop in the Polanco neighborhood.
The most popular titles were disaster movies and films about epidemics like the 2008 flick "Blindness," in which people worldwide lose their sight to an unknown infection, Garcia said.
No new flu deaths have been registered in the capital since Friday, when authorities confirmed the flu had killed 20 and was suspected in 48 other deaths. So far, 1,004 suspected cases have been reported throughout Mexico.
"We are trying to avoid taking the kids to public places where there are lots of people. Normally we take them to the park or a party but we want to avoid the risk of infection," said Angelina Gutierrez, a mother of two who was planning to spend most of the weekend at home in the Narvarte district.
STADIUM MUTED
One of the world's most famous soccer venues, the Aztec Stadium, will be quiet on Sunday when home team America takes on league rival Tecos. Fans will be banned from the huge structure, which can hold 105,000, to avoid spreading the flu.
The capital's schools were ordered closed on Friday for the first time since a 1985 earthquake that killed about 10,000 people, and they may stay shut next week.
The Health Ministry warned people against touching or kissing while greeting each other, a difficult measure to enforce in a country where even loose acquaintances hug or give pecks on the cheek.
Local authorities in the capital went around bars and restaurants on Friday night, forcing out revelers and telling owners to shut down.
"We closed down about 70 percent of them in Mexico City," Mayor Marcelo Ebrard said. He asked bars, clubs, restaurants and concert venues to stay closed for 10 days but it was unclear if they could be legally required to remain shut.
Motorbike couriers did a brisk trade delivering fast food to would-be diners who shunned restaurants.
Mexico has 1 million doses of antiviral medicine, easily enough to treat the cases reported so far, and the World Health Organization says Mexican authorities are capable of handling the outbreak.
But the lack of visitors to Chapultepec Park, a rare haven of green in the smoggy city, showed people were taking no chances.
"There are much fewer people," said Oscar Campos, 19, a vendor of mangoes and orange juice who normally makes around 10 sales in the first few hours of a weekend day. "We haven't sold anything," he said. (Editing by Eric Walsh)
