Mexican President Felipe Calderon on Friday held an emergency meeting at the Presidential Office with ministers, health authorities and experts to discuss measures to deal with the deadly flu outbreak.

Calderon also decided to inform Mexicans about the nationwide flu outbreak.

The Mexican Institute of Security and Social Services of the State (ISSSTE) said that this outbreak is of a different virus from those already known.

This virus affects the breathing system and causes fever of more than 38.5 degrees Celsius, with symptoms of cough, headache and stomachache, running at the nose, bones and chest pain, as well as eating difficulties.

Mexican Health Minister Jose Angel Cordova urged the Mexican people to take precautionary measures, such as avoiding overcrowded places, food sharing, handshaking and kissing, and washing hands frequently.

One measure the Mexican government has already taken against the flu outbreak is the suspension of all activities at private and public schools, from kindergartens to universities, in Mexico City and the State of Mexico.

The suspension could be extended according to the development of the epidemic, which is being monitored on an hourly basis by the health authorities, Cordova said.

According to Mexican authorities, the epidemic has been reported in Mexico City and the states of Mexico, Hidalgo, Baja California, Chihuahua, San Luis Potosi, Tlaxcala and Veracruz.

The authorities also confirmed 20 deaths across the country from this flu outbreak.

According to earlier media reports, the World Health Organization (WHO) said on Friday that there had been 57 suspected deaths in Mexico from the outbreak of what it identified as "swineflu."

It has been rare for the swine flu to infect people. In the United States there have been only three cases of human deaths from the epidemic, reported in 1976 and 1988 respectively.

(Xinhua News Agency April 25, 2009)