Travel advisory for Mexico lifted

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Canada is lifting an advisory against non-essential travel to Mexico as cases of swine flu there start to wane.

As well, Canada's chief public health officer, Dr. David Butler-Jones, says this country has seen the worst of the swine flu – for now.

The federal government says travel to Mexico – the epicentre of the swine subtype of H1N1 – is no longer a risk to Canadians since the virus has been spreading through Canada for some time.

The Canada Border Services Agency will continue to visually check travellers for signs of illness.

But the Public Health Agency of Canada will cease some measures such as distributing health alert notices to passengers on direct flights to Mexico and having quarantine officers meet every direct flight entering Canada from Mexico.

Officials are advising those at risk of complications from any form of influenza, including diabetics, pregnant women, children under 2 or people suffering from lung or heart disease, to consult their doctors before going to Mexico.

WestJet said last night, however, it has no flights to Mexico until June 20. Air Canada said it has a few flights this month to Mexico City and Puerto Vallarta.

Butler-Jones said yesterday it appears that spread of the virus is waning.

"It looks at this point like we're over the worst of it in Canada for this season," he said. "But, again, I'm going to hedge my bets on that because we're watching very closely and it's still within the incubation period of previous cases, so you could see a second spike."

There have been 520 confirmed cases – including one death – of the strain of H1N1 in Canada. As of Friday, the province's health ministry had recorded 187 cases.

The virus seemingly peaked by the start of this month, Butler-Jones said. "Once we've been a couple of weeks past the presentation of cases, etc., and we see the numbers, then we can say with some confidence that we're over the worst," he said. "But we'll have to wait and see over the next few days."

Some health officials have suggested the virus isn't likely to fade out in the summer as flu tends to do in the Northern Hemisphere.

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