May 4 (Bloomberg) -- Mexican authorities set dates for schools to restart, and said government offices and most of the businesses shut down for five days to prevent the spread of swine flu will be allowed to reopen this week.

Calderon said the government will reopen universities and high schools on May 7 and elementary schools and day care centers on May 11. Health Minister Jose Cordova said most of Mexico will return to work May 6 except in areas where infections continue to rise. Mexico City today lowered its health alert, Mayor Marcelo Ebrard said.

“Labor and economic activity can resume on the 6th,” Cordova said at a news conference in Mexico City. “In the case of school activity, it will have to be staggered and progressive.”

President Felipe Calderon said late yesterday that Mexico will overcome the outbreak of swine flu that has caused 26 deaths amid unprecedented action to curb the spread of the disease. Mexico last week halted nonessential state services from May 1 to May 5, and called on businesses to close.

Mexico City lowered its health alert one level from red, the highest warning, to orange, the second-highest of four, Ebrard said. Restaurants in the capital will reopen May 6, while convention centers, amusement parks and museums can open May 7, Ebrard said.

Concert venues, movie theatres and nightclubs will remain shut until the health alert is dropped another level to yellow, he said.

Government Offices

The government will soon announce an aid package for the pork and tourism industries, which have been “significantly” affected by the outbreak of swine flu, Economy Minister Gerardo Ruiz Mateos said today. Government offices that were closed last week will reopen on May 6, Cordova told reporters today.

“Mexico is trying to return to normalcy as soon as possible,” Calderon said in a televised interview yesterday. “We are going to win this battle.”

Cordova said the virus may be only slightly more contagious than the seasonal flu. People with the virus are passing it on to an average of 1.4 to 1.8 people, while those who have the seasonal flu pass it on to an average of 1.3 people, he said.

Central Bank Governor Guillermo Ortiz said last week that while the flu will hurt economic growth, the impact will be small if the outbreak is short-lived. He said recent data from the government about flu cases were “relatively good.”

Economic Growth

“Statements by policy makers have been on the supportive side,” Jimena Zuniga, a Latin America economist at Barclays Capital in New York, said today in a telephone interview. “That seems to have been taken with a lot of comfort by market participants.”

The World Health Organization has said it is on the verge of declaring a pandemic after the flu spread to Europe, Asia, the Middle East, Central America and New Zealand. A pandemic is a measure of the flu’s geographical reach and ability to spread.

Calderon said it’s too early to estimate the economic losses caused by the virus. “Some economic sectors may recuperate immediately,” he said. “The front line in the battle against this new virus is in Mexican hospitals and clinics.”

Current restraints on business and government is costing Mexico around 2 billion pesos ($150 million) in lost productivity daily, according to an estimate from Sergio Luna, chief economist at Citigroup Inc.’s Banamex unit.

‘Declining Phase’

Mexico has confirmed 802 cases of swine flu, Cordova said today at a news conference in Mexico City. Of the dead, 16 were women and 10 were men, Cordova said. Seventeen of the dead were between the ages of 21 and 40.

The epidemic is in a “declining phase” and appears to have “contained itself,” Cordova said yesterday. He said the swine flu shows a 4 percent mortality rate compared with 70 percent in cases of Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome.

Calderon said Mexico took prudent measures to battle the spread of infections and called on the international community not to discriminate against Mexicans because of the virus.

“I call for respect for Mexicans,” Calderon said. It is unjust that “some countries, out of ignorance and disinformation, insist on taking on repressive, discriminatory measures,” he said, without naming China.

China suspended flights from Mexico to Shanghai on May 2 after a case of the virus was confirmed in a man who traveled to the Chinese city from Mexico. China’s Health Ministry said May 3 that all passengers who disembarked on the mainland after taking Aeromexico Flight AM098 have been found and are in quarantine.

China today defended the measures.

“We hope the Mexicans understand the necessary precautions taken by China and that they handle this matter objectively and calmly,” Foreign Ministry spokesman Ma Zhaoxu said in a statement posted on the ministry’s Web site.

Mexico sent a plane to China today to pick up the quarantined passengers, the Foreign Ministry said in an e-mailed statement today. Any other Mexican citizens who want to leave may join the flight, the statement said.

To contact the reporters on this story: Jens Erik Gould in Mexico City at jgould9@bloomberg.net; Hugh Collins in Mexico City at hcollins8@bloomberg.net

Last Updated: May 4, 2009 19:00 EDT