Mexican Schools Reopen; Swine Flu Death Toll Rises

MEXICO CITY (AP) -- Millions of children, many wearing surgical masks, returned to scrubbed and disinfected classrooms Monday after a nationwide shutdown to curb the spread of swine flu in Mexico. As the worldwide toll of deaths linked to the illness rose to 61, pressure increased for massive production of generic versions of expensive antiviral drugs.

Mainland China got its first confirmed swine flu case -- a Chinese man who had been studying at the University of Missouri in the United States -- prompting a scramble to find and quarantine more than 200 fellow passengers on his flight to China.

Mexico's last confirmed swine flu death occured a week ago on May 4, although several more recent deaths are being analyzed, and Mexico has confirmed no new infections since Thursday. Tests on backlogged samples from earlier deaths caused Mexico's toll to rise by eight on Monday.

''We could now be in a declining phase, toward the extinction of the epidemic, but this does not suggest a total relaxation of safety measures,'' Health Secretary Jose Angel Cordova said.

The swine flu epidemic is continuing to spread around the globe, with international health authorities reporting more than 4,700 confirmed cases in 30 nations. There are 61 deaths tied to the virus -- 56 in Mexico, three in the U.S., one in Canada and one in Costa Rica.