墨西哥城可能因猪流感“关闭”

 

墨西哥城可能因猪流感“关闭”

原文： http://www.ftchinese.com/story.php?storyid=001026107 

英国《金融时报》亚当·汤姆森(Adam Thomson)墨西哥城报道 2009-04-28 墨西哥城的市政府昨日承认，他们可能不得不“关闭”墨西哥庞大的首都，以抗击据官方报道迄今已夺走至多149人生命的猪流感爆发。

 

墨西哥城的市长马塞洛•埃夫拉德(Marcelo Ebrard)昨日上午称，在试图隔离病毒方面，下一步可能是关闭公交网络。此种新型病毒是人和动物流感病毒的混合体，科学家以前从未见过。

他还将与私营部门的领导人会晤，商讨限制工作日的事宜。上周末，代表私营企业的墨西哥领先商会之一同意，错开上班时间，以减少封闭空间中的人数。

世界上最大城市之一可能被关闭，适逢该市2200万居民感受到越来越强烈的恐慌感。昨日上午，在中产阶级地段La Condesa一个通常宁静的角落，路人排队一打一打地购买蓝色的手术用口罩。

不愿透露姓名的药店业主表示，他仅在上周末就售出5000只口罩。“我在试图进更多货，但库存都已没了，”他说。与此同时，他正将一叠叠口罩递给焦急的顾客。

译者/和风

 

英文：

 

Mexico City authorities yesterday admitted they might have to “shut down” Mexico's sprawling capital in an effort to combat an outbreak of swine flu that has so far claimed the lives of up to 149 people, according to official reports.

Marcelo Ebrard, the city's mayor, said yesterday morning that the next step in trying to quarantine the virus, a hybrid of human and animal influenza strains that scientists have never seen, could be shutting down the public transport network.

He was also set to meet private-sector leaders over limiting the working day. At the weekend, one of Mexico's leading business councils, which represents private-sector companies, agreed to stagger factory shifts to reduce the number of people in closed spaces.

The possibility of closing one of the world's biggest cities comes as its 22m residents are feeling a growing sense of panic. At a normally quiet corner of the middle-class neighbourhood of La Condesa yesterday morning, passers-by queued to buy blue surgical face masks by the dozen.

The pharmacy owner, who preferred not to be identified, said he had sold 5,000 masks at the weekend alone. “I've been trying to get some more but all the stocks have run out,” he said as he handed them over in fistfuls to desperate customers.