Workers from the Oasis Restaurant serve up breakfast from street-side carts, a pre-existing system that they say customers are increasingly choosing over inside seating as coronavirus worries grow, in central Mexico City, Tuesday, March 24, 2020. Beginning Monday, Mexico's capital shut down museums, bars, gyms, churches, theaters, and other non-essential businesses that gather large numbers of people, in an attempt to slow the spread of the new coronavirus. (AP Photo/Rebecca Blackwell)

MEXICO CITY - Mexican health officials on Tuesday called on all businesses and organizations to suspend work that requires the movement of people.

Deputy health secretary Hugo López-Gatell said at a news conference hosted by President Andrés Manuel López Obrador that work that requires people to travel between home and work sites or be in public spaces must stop.

“The moment has arrived where we can make a greater impact with collective strategies,” López-Gatell said, now that the virus is being transmitted within the community rather than just imported.

The measure, which in theory could bring much of the country's economic activity to a halt, was included in a list of other measures the government has already implemented and there was no discussion of how it would be enforced or whether there would be penalties. Many companies have already implemented plans to have employees working from home, but most businesses remain open, including restaurants and gyms.

López-Gatell called on employers to implement plans to keep working. “Institutions, private organizations can't stop because we all depend on them,” he said. He mentioned food production and logistics in particular as sectors that could not stop functioning, but did not list who would be exempted or whether the government would actually force businesses to close their doors.

President Andrés Manuel López Obrador said billionaire Carlos Slim had committed to not firing workers and the president called on other business owners to do the same. López Obrador said he would sign a decree that senior citizens be allowed to stay home from their jobs, but still receive their salaries and other benefits.

López-Gatell said the country was formally entering a second phase aimed at maintaining the number of new infections at a level that the health system can manage.

But there was little explanation of what exactly would be halted, or how that would be enforced, noted Jesus Silva Herzog Marquez, a political consultant in Mexico.

“There is no indication of a governmental strategy to implement these decisions, or make them obligatory,” said Silva-Herzog. “I believe that what has generated the most criticism is no economic support was announced, no fiscal measures, no complementary measures to help mitigate the health emergency with steps to attenuate what will inevitably become a very severe economic crisis.”

Some Mexicans have criticized the government for not implementing stricter controls earlier as they watch the virus ravage more-developed countries. Some states and municipal governments have imposed tougher restrictions, including curfews.

The populous State of Mexico, which borders the capital on three sides, on Monday ordered the closing of a long list of businesses and public spaces including daycare centres, bars, gyms and theatres. Businesses that do not sell food or pharmaceuticals should close and residents should only leave their homes for necessities, said Gov. Alfredo del Mazo.

That state also saw the looting of a grocery story in the suburb of Tecamac, north of Mexico City, on Monday. Several armed people first robbed the cash registers and then dozens more people entered to steal products, according to the state prosecutor's office. Authorities said they were investigating whether the robbery was organized through social media. Officials didn't say if the episode was connected to the virus outbreak.

Mexico had 405 confirmed cases and five deaths, as of Tuesday, including five that investigators have not been able to link to imported cases. López-Gatell said Mexico's goal is to keep the number of new infections manageable — flatten the epidemiological curve — though he said this could lead to a longer, but better controlled epidemic.

Cristian Morales, the Mexico representative of the World Health Organization, said Mexico "is on the right track."

“We are very pleased and we applaud this initiative, that it has been taken ahead of time, that they didn't wait until the last minute,” Morales said.

News from © The Associated Press, 2020