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Mexico City locks itself in amid flu fears

(Agencies)
Updated: 2009-04-27 11:10

MEXICO CITY -- The cardinal said Mass in a shuttered cathedral. Soccer teams played to empty stadiums. A televised variety show filled its seats with cardboard cutouts. Mexico's overcrowded capital locked itself indoors Sunday, terrified by a new strain of swine flu that was spreading around the world.

A journalist wears a a surgical face mask during a Mexican league soccer match between America and Tecos at the Azteca stadium in Mexico City April 26, 2009. [Agencies]

Mexico City residents -- chilangos, they're called -- are accustomed to living in public view. They eat greasy tacos at stands along smog-choked avenues, play pickup soccer games on potholed streets and snuggle with sweethearts on benches in tree-lined parks.

Related readings:  China on alert as flu kills 81 in Mexico  World govts race to contain swine flu outbreak  Swine flu causes worldwide fears  US expects more swine flu cases: CDC

But on Sunday even the enormous Zocalo plaza, where throngs of families congregate for street performances and open-air concerts, was all but empty. A handful of women wearing surgical masks knelt on the plaza's stones and prayed, their arms reaching upward in a lonely vigil.

Soldiers in surgical masks shooed away the faithful at the cathedral, pointing to a board with pieces of paper.

"There are no baptisms," one read.

"No confirmations," read another.

"No Masses," said a third.

Inside, Cardinal Norberto Rivera delivered a sermon to nearly empty pews, his pleas for divine intervention relayed over television and radio.

"Grant us the prudence and serenity to act with responsibility and to avoid being infected or to infect others," he appealed to the Virgin of Guadalupe, Mexico's patron saint. "Give help to health workers, keep vigil for the recovery of the sick and console those in mourning."

To the south of the city, the Pumas soccer team took on the Chivas at the picturesque Olympic Stadium, decorated by muralist Diego Rivera, but its sold-out volcanic-rock bleachers were empty. They tied 1-1 as fans followed from home on television.

The television variety show "Make Me Laugh" filled its seats with cardboard cutouts bearing broad smiles on their faces. Somehow the jokes were still greeted with laughter and applause.

The streets were largely deserted. The city canceled its weekly cycling day, in which major boulevards are closed to cars. The city's two main chains of movie theaters both announced they were closing temporarily. Restaurants and bars were empty.

"We normally get 200 diners over the course of the day," said waiter Eduardo Garcia, wearing a surgical mask as he presided over empty tables of an Italianni's restaurant in the Zona Rosa neighborhood. "Today's pretty bad. Nobody's coming out of their houses."

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