Mexico's high schools and universities opened for the first time in two weeks on Thursday as the country's top health official insisted the swine-flu epidemic is declining. All students were checked for flu symptoms, and a few were sent home. In other moves, movie theaters, clubs, and restaurants were allowed to fully reopen Thursday and fans can attend professional football matches starting this weekend following last week's government-mandated shutdowns designed to slow the virus' spread. Trying to calm worries that it was too early to restart classes, Secretary of Public Education Alonso Lujambio called on Mexicans to show “strength of spirit.” The World Health Organization (WHO) said Thursday the number of confirmed H1N1 flu cases around the globe has surpassed 2,000. The WHO's flu chief, Keiji Fukuda, told Asian health ministers that the virus still has the potential to infect one-third or more of the world population in the next several months.
