ARGENTINA-CITIZENS RETURN FROM MEXICO.
The Argentine citizens who were left stranded in Mexico following the suspension of all commercial flights due to the influenza A virus outbreak returned to the country early yesterday in a special flight. Passengers complained there were "very few controls" on their arrival to the Ezeiza international airport.
Some of the 203 people who arrived in Ezeiza from Mexico City on a special Aerolíneas Argentinas flight at 2.45am yesterday said they were handed brochures explaining the precautionary measures and the virus symptoms and had their temperature taken, but no further studies were performed on them.
"I think they should have checked the passengers a little bit more," said Norma Alegre, one of the 203 Argentines who were left stranded in Mexico since the cancellation of the flights last week.
"We will have to do it ourselves," she added.
"What they did to us was shameful," said another passenger. "They left us in the focus of infection, while there were people who could return to the country by taking flights with stopovers," he added. "The decision of bringing us back should have been taken earlier and avoid the risk to which we were exposed unnecessarily," concluded the passenger.
"I felt like a hostage in that hotel," said Jorge Cevallos, who also returned from Mexico in yesterday’s special flight.
"Rather than scared about flu, I was actually more concerned about what could happen to my relatives back here in Argentina," he added.
The suspension of all flights to Mexico was extended until Thursday by the government, as the field hospital installed at Ezeiza international airport will be operational from tomorrow. The measure was scheduled to cease on Sunday midnight, but Health Minister Graciela Ocaña announced the extension in the afternoon.
Health Emergencies Director Gabriel Ive said authorities requested the passengers to stay in quarantine and not leave their homes during the next 10 days and contact them in case of any suspicious symptom.
Official sources yesterday said there are 45 suspected cases in the country, at least 12 of them in Buenos Aires city.
