While the swine flu might have claimed its latest victims stateside, Mexico City – plagued by the stigma of the disease for weeks now — is officially declaring the illness to be yesterday’s news. The city has lowered the alert level as the Mayor, Marcel Ebrard, tells citizens it to take a chill pill, since the megapolis has reached a milestone in its fight against the flu: one full week with no new cases. The AP reports:

Mayor Marcelo Ebrard said the change means the risk of contagion is low, the situation is under control and the images of countless people wearing blue surgical masks in cars, sidewalks, restaurants and theaters can be consigned to history.

“There’s no longer any need” to wear masks, Ebrard said. “Now you can come to the city without any risk.”

City Health Secretary Armando Ahued said nobody has been hospitalized with respiratory infections in the last three days, and no swine flu cases have been confirmed since May 14. “We are seeing a 96.1 percent drop in cases, and that’s why we are dropping the alert level to green today,” Ahued said.

The flu has meant a sharp dip in tourism to the city and indeed to the entire country, so I assume that as small as this milestone might be, the capital is anxious to milk it for all its worth in an effort to get tourists back to the Mexican capital with a quickness.

Via / AP

Image via xaminmo on Flickr