Mexico City, Aug 30 (EFE) The Mexican government has forecast that influenza A (H1N1) cases in the country will soar to 1 million in winter 2009.

Health Secretary Jose Angel Cordova said Friday that the swine flu virus epidemic is currently stabilised with an average number of daily infections between 80 and 100 nationwide.

Cordova said that authorities are preparing a complementary national plan to deal with that emergency that includes such measures as closing schools, suspending certain activities and getting hospitals fully prepared.

On April 23, the authorities decreed a health alert after confirming the presence of the new flu virus that was previously unknown, and ordered schools to be closed.

Federal and capital authorities also suspended for two weeks all academic, sports, cultural and entertainment activities, as well as closing restaurants and other businesses.

During the first 15 days of the epidemic, the Mexican capital was the city most affected in many of its sectors, chiefly that of tourism, to the extent that hotel occupation fell by 5 percent.

As the epidemic spread in Mexico, almost simultaneously cases began to occur in the US and Canada.