Health Minister Jose Angel Cordova said the confirmed toll now stood at 15 dead and 328 people infected, as lab tests came through from hundreds of backlogged cases.

That tally contrasted with figures given by Cordova early in the week, when he spoke of 159 "probable" deaths from the flu.

Based on Mexico's early evaluation and the spread of the H1N1 virus to several countries, the World Health Organization on Wednesday declared a global pandemic was "imminent."

But Cordova told a news conference on Friday: "Fortunately the virus is not so aggressive -- it's not a case of avian flu, which had a mortality rate of nearly 70 percent."

He said the H1N1 flu was easily treated with anti-viral medicine "if treatment is given from the first day."

Nevertheless, a five-day shutdown of Mexico decreed by President Felipe Calderon that coincided with a traditional May Day long weekend was being mostly observed.

Thousands of Mexicans ignored the instruction, however, heading to their usual beach getaways, where locals were petrified.

"They shouldn't be coming, they're bringing the virus with them," said one resident in the coastal resort of Acapulco, Edgar Rubio Hernandez.

Cars and at least one bus coming from the capital were reportedly pelted with stones by locals.

A group of around 200 demonstrators also briefly clashed with police in central Mexico City, ignoring a suspension of traditional May Day rallies by unions. There were no arrests or injuries.

Residents of the capital and elsewhere were starting to chafe at measures imposed early in the week to limit the spread of the H1N1 swine flu.

The closure of bars, restaurants, clubs and cinemas had left the capital looking like a ghost town.

In a prison in the north of the capital holding 8,000 inmates, a small protest broke out over a temporary ban on visitors.

A penitentiary official told AFP some prisoners set fire to a mattress and papers in "a small incident resulting from prevention measures brought in by the need to guarantee the health of the inmates, but everything is now under control."

Tourist numbers to Mexico were expected to be halved for the first 10 days of May, judging from 70 percent cancelations of hotels reservations and a significant drop in arrivals at airports, the government said.

Mexico City mayor Marcelo Ebrard on Friday acknowledged there appeared to be a stabilization in the flu situation, but said "the next 10 days will be critical" in deciding whether restrictions should continue or not.

"We had to take all the measures we did," he told reporters. "We are going to be alert to see how this trend develops."

In the streets of the capital, there was frustration at some mobile health clinics.

"They told me I can only see a doctor when I have a fever. But I want a check-up now, as a precaution," Patricia Salazar, a woman with a sore throat, said after being turned away by one of the clinics.

"Do I have to already be dying to be seen?" she asked through her hygiene mask.

Mexico's government on Friday also welcomed a planeload of medical supplies sent by China, briefly setting aside differences with Beijing over its decision to ban Mexican pork imports because of the swine flu epidemic.

The day before, Mexico said it would lodge a complaint at the World Trade Organization asking China and other countries why they were going against scientific advice that cooked pork posed no contagion risk.

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Berlin, April 28, 2009
European officials are scrambling to protect the continent from a major swine flu outbreak, as first cases were confirmed in Spain and Scotland.