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The Chief Officers' Network - your business advantage / Special Interest / Motorsport / A1GP: Swine Flu causes cancellation of Mexico race

Much of the organisation for A1GP takes place in the UK and the recent Foreign Office travel warning against all but essential travel to Mexico has led to pre-race organisation being heavily disrupted.

And as the World Health Organisation increases its threat level from 4 to 5, just short of the potentially devastating "pandemic" threat, the idea of putting large numbers of people into close contact with each other for a long time is not appealing.

Indeed, Mexico has ordered even restaurants to be closed, telling owners they can make take-away available but dining rooms are to be sealed because of the risks of flu passing from person to person.

"To say we are disappointed to have to make this call is an understatement," said A1GP Chairman, Tony Teixeira. "When the news of the health problems broke last week we made sure we kept ourselves up to date with the latest information. It soon became obvious this was not an isolated health risk, and when the UK Foreign Office put out its advisory and the World Health Organisation raised the level of influenza pandemic alert that was when we had to make our decision. We must have the safety of all members of the A1GP community as well as the thousands of loyal fans in Mexico City as our prime concern," he added.

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