A health worker (L) wearing a mask monitors passengers arriving from Mexico and travelling through to Peru for possible swine flu infection at Santiago's international airport April 27, 2009. Mexico said a new flu virus has killed up to 149 people and it ordered all schools to close across the country on Monday as the disease spread in the United States, Canada and Europe, raising fears of a pandemic. [Xinhua/Reuters Photo]

Mexican Health Minister Jose Angel Cordova Villalobos said on Monday that 1,995 people had been hospitalized with swine flu across the country, while 149 people were believed to have died of this pandemic.

According to Cordova, among the 1,995 people, 776 are still in serious conditions, while 1,070 have been discharged after treatment.

Canadian tourists, about to board a plane back to Canada, put on surgical masks as they walk inside Mexico City's international airport Benito Juarez April 27, 2009. [Xinhua/Reuters Photo]

As a new preventive measure, the government ordered the cancellation of school activities at all levels, from kindergartens to universities, across the country through May 6.

The Mexico City authorities, in coordination with the National Commission of Water (Conagua), decided to cancel the maintenance program of water pipelines originally scheduled for May 1 to 5.

Cordova said that medical authorities expect the number of cases to continue to rise, as the outbreak remains in a severe period.

The minister added that two labs will be set up soon, with the capability of conducting 100 tests daily.

(Xinhua News Agency Apirl 28, 2009)