Mexico's Health Minister Jose Angel Cordova on Thursday evening said there are early signs of a decline in suspected new cases of a deadly influenza virus that has claimed 12 lives.
Speaking at a press conference, Cordova said that a week after announcing a health emergency in order to contain the virus, there has been a decline in the number of suspected cases handled by the hospital system of the Mexican Social Security Institute.
"Social Security received 212 probable cases April 20. Today there were only 46. There has been a progressive decline in these cases," he said. But the minister also cautioned that despite these latest figures giving reason for "some hope" it was still too early to declare whether the spread of the virus has started to slow.
Cordova said that the number of confirmed cases of people in Mexico who have contracted the new strain of influenza A has risen to 312 from the last reported number of 260, including the 12 confirmed deaths. That was out of 679 suspected cases tested by laboratories so far.
He said that of the confirmed fatalities, seven were in the capital area, four in neighboring Mexico State, and one from southern Oaxaca State. They included four males, eight females and virtually were from all age groups.
Cordova also said that to date health authorities have visited the homes of 77 people among a group of 176 influenza-related deaths to inspect the state of health of the relatives of the dead and provide support.
Mexico will open five more laboratories - it only has one now - in coming days to test for the virus. The six labs together will be able to process around 500 samples a day. Prior to Mexico starting in-country testing Tuesday, samples were tested in the U.S. and Canada.
"We are going to continue to process all of the samples we have and it's likely that the number of confirmed deaths (from the virus) is going to rise," he said.
Speaking at a press conference, Cordova said that a week after announcing a health emergency in order to contain the virus, there has been a decline in the number of suspected cases handled by the hospital system of the Mexican Social Security Institute.
"Social Security received 212 probable cases April 20. Today there were only 46. There has been a progressive decline in these cases," he said. But the minister also cautioned that despite these latest figures giving reason for "some hope" it was still too early to declare whether the spread of the virus has started to slow.
Cordova said that the number of confirmed cases of people in Mexico who have contracted the new strain of influenza A has risen to 312 from the last reported number of 260, including the 12 confirmed deaths. That was out of 679 suspected cases tested by laboratories so far.
He said that of the confirmed fatalities, seven were in the capital area, four in neighboring Mexico State, and one from southern Oaxaca State. They included four males, eight females and virtually were from all age groups.
Cordova also said that to date health authorities have visited the homes of 77 people among a group of 176 influenza-related deaths to inspect the state of health of the relatives of the dead and provide support.
Mexico will open five more laboratories - it only has one now - in coming days to test for the virus. The six labs together will be able to process around 500 samples a day. Prior to Mexico starting in-country testing Tuesday, samples were tested in the U.S. and Canada.
"We are going to continue to process all of the samples we have and it's likely that the number of confirmed deaths (from the virus) is going to rise," he said.
No comments:
Post a Comment