Mexico Lowers Swine Flu Alert

The swine flu epidemic is waning, Mexican officials said today, lowering the Mexico City alert level. Businesses in the capital will be allowed to reopen Wednesday, while schools will remain closed until health officials finish inspecting them. Global health officials were more guarded, but said there were no plans to raise the pandemic alert level any higher, MSNBC reports.

“We continue to see a number of infections related to travel in a number of different countries,” said the World Health Organization's acting assistant director-general, noting that the southern hemisphere is entering its typically flu-friendly winter. The WHO pandemic alert level is still at 5, or “imminent,” but it emphasized that not all pandemics are especially deadly. (More World Health Organization stories.)